The Love Of Money - Episode 249
09-08-25 (19:09)
I ignored the rest of the exchange as I leaned toward
Chandler.
"How you feeling about it, man?"
"Like nothing's changed in the slightest," Chandler
muttered, looking around the room at everyone as they
talked amongst themselves. "Even though we'll win
with backroom deals, I hardly feel confident in a
command so fractured."
"Colin had faith in you, man. That has to count for
something."
"Yes, well... Chandler straightened and muttered
something I couldn't quite catch, then cleared his throat
and called out. "Very well! Let's get started since we're
all here!"
Once everyone quieted, Chandler continued, "I think
we've made our cases plainly enough. We've had time
to talk things out amongst ourselves. Does anyone
have any final words?"
When no one said anything, Chandler said, "Is everyone
ready for the vote?"
Besides a few quiet murmurs and nods, no one said
anything. The speaker crackled to life as Wayne said,
"Let's get on with it."
"Very well," Chandler said. "I'll start. I vote for myself as
the continuing CEO of VistaVision."
"Big surprise," Rajesh muttered loud enough for
everyone to hear.
Ignoring the comment, Chandler looked at the
speakerphone. "Mr. Prudem?"
The idea was to front-load the votes for Chandler. With
my forty percent of the shares added onto Chandler's
two percent and Wayne's five, that counted for forty-
seven percent of the company. Hiro's seven percent
brought us to fifty-four, letting us win within the first
four of the twelve votes.
Still... we hoped that by loading all our votes in the
beginning, we would intimidate some of the
shareholders into voting along with us, creating a better
sense of solidarity.
"I vote for Grayson." Wayne said without hesitation.
"Very well." Then Chandler turned his attention to me,
"We'll go around the room. Marcus?"
"Chandler Grayson," I said, giving us our forty-seven.
"Kelly Maddox," Hiro said directly on my heels without
waiting for Chandler to call on him.
The bottom of my stomach fell out.
I couldn't help looking at Tanaka, but he wouldn't meet
my gaze. He simply stared at Chandler with that stoic
expression I'd seen throughout the meeting. I stared
even harder, hoping to bore holes into his face with a
simple look. We had a deal. I'd offered him another
portion of the company in exchange for his vote. What
happened?
"Just... one more time to make sure we're clear,"
Chandler said, sounding how I felt.
"Kelly Maddox for CEO," Hiro repeated calmly. He turned
his gaze to Maddox, still avoiding looking in my
direction. Kelly wasn't interested in looking at anyone
else besides Chandler and me, a smug smile
dominating her features.
"Son of a bitch," Wayne cursed over the phone.
"That's... what I thought you said," Chandler muttered-it
was impossible to disguise the defeat in his voice. I
glanced at Amber, but she was busy typing notes on a
tablet connected to a keyboard. It was almost like she
had no interest in what was happening in the meeting.
Kelly was reacting enough for the both of them,
savoring our despair like a fine meal, judging by the
way she was leering at Chandler and me.
God dammit, Hiro! We had a fucking deal! Why the fuck
didn't you keep up your end!?
Gus Hathaway went next; he voted for Maddox.
I started doing the math, trying to remember what
everyone had. Tanaka had seven percent. Gus had
three....
I only needed three percent more to win this. My mind
started. racing as I looked from one person to another-
none of them had any reason to back my play. They
didn't know me, and if Kelly had them convinced she
could do a better job, they certainly wouldn't be
swayed by Chandler.
But... there was Astrid. She admitted to preferring
Maddox, but I felt like we'd made a connection in the
break room. If I could convince her... Don't forget to leave a Comment 
