He Wants An Open Marriage? Done!

A heavy, suffocating silence hung over the boardroom. Not a single director at the long conference table dared to open their mouth.

"I am waiting," Richard repeated, his brows pinched tightly together.

The gray-haired board chairman let out a weary breath, shaking his head. "Mr. President, you already understand what it signifies when you are excluded from a closed meeting; we should not need to spell it out for you," he said, resting his hands on the polished table surface.

Richard took another deliberate step forward, his shoes tapping against the floor. "I really need you to spell it out," he insisted, his posture rigid.

The chairman straightened in his chair, smoothing his silk tie. "It signifies that this board is currently evaluating whether the current leadership is still capable of protecting the interests of Vance Enterprises," he declared, his voice echoing in the vast room.

The words struck Roxanne like a physical blow. A cold wave of anxiety washed over her, making her chest tighten. They were really discussing stripping Richard of his authority right here, right now.

No, she thought, her fingers tightening around Richard’s. We cannot let them take control.

"Well, I am more than capable of protecting this company," Richard stated, his dark gaze sweeping over every director present. "And I have given this board zero reason to think otherwise."

"And I stand firmly with my son," Henry added, his deep voice carrying quiet authority from the far side of the table. "I will not sit quietly in this room and allow an unauthorized coup to take place."

The chairman shook his head, slumping back into his seat.

"I will not support any motion to remove Richard from office," Henry declared, laying his large hands flat against the table.

Richard offered his father a brief nod of acknowledgment before pulling out a chair. He waited for Roxanne to sit beside him, his warm fingers briefly brushing her lower back to steady her.

Once seated, Richard exhaled a sharp breath, his eyes locking back onto the chairman. "Now, let us proceed with the actual agenda—"

"I must disagree with your assessment, Henry," one of the senior directors interrupted, shaking his head disapprovingly. "The decision of whether the president remains in office belongs strictly to this board, not to the founding family."

Henry simply shrugged his broad shoulders, offering no further response. Beside him, Richard’s jaw hardened, the muscles along his cheek twitching, but he forced his posture to remain completely steady.

"As painful as this conversation is, we must remain objective," the chairman said, turning his gaze toward Henry. "When you held the presidency, Henry, we never had to assemble an emergency board session over a personal scandal. Those were stable, profitable years for our shareholders."

"Even so," Henry replied smoothly, his tone unbothered, "PR challenges occurred during my time as well. The difference was that we acted as a unified leadership team to resolve them."

"Yes, and that unity existed because the executive’s personal integrity was never called into question," another board member chimed in, leaning forward.

"And am I somehow responsible for a campaign to smear my image?" Richard asked, his tone dropping into a dangerous register. "My own brother orchestrated this leak. What would you have had me do to prevent him from acting? Hand him my seat on a silver platter?"

The chairman shook his head again. "We sympathize with the family conflict, Richard, but we cannot govern this firm based on sentiment. Our sole obligation is to safeguard our investors and secure our capital." He paused, looking directly at Richard. "Perhaps this crisis is an indication that your tenure has reached its natural end—"

"Do not try to speak on my behalf," Richard cut in, his hands slamming flat onto the polished table. "Tell me directly: what is the difference between the current media noise and the crises we had under my father’s administration?"

"No one ever questioned your father’s character," the chairman answered without hesitation.

Richard leaned forward, his eyes narrowing into dark slits. "No one has grounds to question my integrity either. This is a calculated move by one of our biggest rivals, Thomas Riggs. I am merely a means to an end here."

"Precisely, Richard," a female director countered. "You provided them with that leverage."

Another board member gave a slight nod. "The main problem stems directly from your personal life and your romantic entanglements."

"That is absolute nonsense!" Richard snapped through clenched teeth, his chest heaving.

"Look at the pattern," the chairman insisted, motioning vaguely with his pen. "First, allegations surface regarding your involvement with another man’s wife. Now, headlines claim you have impregnated two women simultaneously. One claims to be your fiancée, while the other carries a complex history of her own."

"Allow me to stop you right there, Mr. Chairman," Margaret leaned forward as she spoke up. "As a family, we are managing the situation internally. Furthermore, if this board had respected our standard operating procedure, which dictates a mandatory 48-hour period before the board intervenes, we would not be wasting time in this room."

"Have you looked at the stocks this morning, Lady Vance?" the chairman challenged, his tone rising. "It is the absolute duty of this board to step in when the stock value is actively eroding, regardless of what the protocol says!"

"The fundamentals of Vance Enterprises remain fully intact," Richard interjected, his smooth voice cutting through the rising tension like a blade. "You cannot use a temporary market dip as a metric. The stock values fluctuate daily. We all know this."

"It hardly looks temporary from where the rest of us are sitting," the vice chairman said, crossing his arms dismissively.

"Regardless of your perspective, until that 48-hour window officially closes, no individual sitting at this table has the authority to bypass protocol or declare me unfit for office," Richard stated, his voice resolute and cold.

"You simply cannot dismiss the board’s concerns—"

"You cannot remain in this room," Richard interrupted, cutting the chairman off before the man could finish his sentence. He stood up slowly from his seat, looming over the table with absolute authority. "This unscheduled meeting is over. Every single one of you needs to leave. Right now."

"You cannot order us out, Richard. Not anymore," the chairman shot back, his tone firm.

Richard froze, his brows creasing.

The chairman slid a document across the table. "You misunderstand why we called this meeting."

Richard’s eyes dropped to the paper. NOTICE OF EMERGENCY EXECUTIVE REVIEW. His jaw tightened as he looked at the chairman. "What is this?"

The chairman looked at him, his face stern. "The beginning of the process to remove you as president."

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