Chapter 6
The board meeting was at 9 a.m. sharp, in the big glass conference room on the top floor of Carter Global’s downtown Dallas headquarters.
I’d been in that room a hundred times as a kid, sitting in the corner, coloring, while Dad had meetings.
I’d never sat at the table before.
Dad and I walked in together, side by side, ten minutes early.
The room went silent when we entered.
The ten board members—all older men, all wealthy, all people who’d known Robert for years—stared at us like we were ghosts.
Which, I guess, Dad sort of was.
Dad sat at the head of the table, in the big leather chair that had been his for thirty years.
He gestured for me to sit in the chair to his right—the one that had been Robert’s.
I sat down, straightening my suit, trying not to look as nervous as I felt.
I could feel the board members’ eyes on me.
Judging me.
Wondering if I was really up to this.
“Good morning,” Dad said, his voice loud and clear, filling the room. No sign of weakness. No sign of what he’d been through. “I’m sure you’ve all seen the news. I’m alive. My brother Robert is in jail, charged with attempted murder, fraud, and a dozen other felonies. My niece Sarah is in jail with him, charged as an accessory. This meeting is to decide the future of this company. And to clean up the mess Robert made.”
One of the board members—Arthur, an 80-year-old man who’d co-founded the company with Dad back in the 80s—leaned forward, his face serious.
“James,” he said. “We’re all glad you’re alive. Truly. But you have to understand. The stock is down 18% since the video went viral. Our biggest clients are calling, asking if we’re stable. Robert was our COO. He ran the day-to-day operations for five years. We have no idea how deep the fraud goes. We need answers. And we need stability. Fast.”
Dad nodded.
“I know,” he said. “And that’s why I’ve brought Daniel here today. Effective immediately, Daniel is the new co-CEO of Carter Global. He’s also been given 40% of the company’s voting shares. Whatever he says, goes. Same as me.”
The room erupted.
Board members talking over each other, shouting, shaking their heads.
“James, that’s absurd!” one of them yelled. “He’s 26! He has no experience running a company this size! He dropped out of business school! He runs a tiny app no one’s ever heard of!”
“Robert was experienced,” Dad said, his voice cutting through the noise, sharp as a knife. “And look what he did. Stole $50 million. Tried to kill me. Tried to have my son locked up. Experience doesn’t mean a damn thing if you don’t have integrity. Daniel has more integrity in his little finger than Robert had in his whole body. And he’s already proven he can handle pressure. He saved my life. He stopped Robert from fleeing the country. He’s been going through the books with the accountants for two days now, and he’s already found another $12 million Robert stole that the others missed.”
That shut them up.
They looked at me, surprised.
I pulled out the folder I’d brought with me, sliding a copy of the new report across the table to each of them.
I’d spent all night going through the construction division files, cross-referencing invoices with bank records, using the same data analysis tools I’d built for my startup.
I’d found shell companies Robert had set up under fake names, fake invoices for work that had never been done, payments to his mistresses in New York and Miami charged to company expense accounts.
It was all there.
Black and white.
“Robert didn’t just steal $50 million,” I said, my voice steady, even though my hands were shaking a little under the table. “It’s closer to $62 million. Over two and a half years. He was siphoning money from six different divisions, not just construction. He was also sabotaging my startup—paying hackers to take our servers offline last quarter, spreading rumors to our investors that we were going under. He wanted me to look like a failure. So no one would believe me when I told you he was stealing.”
The board members flipped through the reports, their faces getting grimmer and grimmer with every page.
Arthur looked up at me, his eyes wide.
“You found all this in two days?” he asked.
“I built the data tools we used to analyze it,” I said. “For my startup. We help small businesses catch fraud in their supply chains. Turns out it works just as well on billion-dollar companies.”
Dad smiled, leaning back in his chair.
“Daniel’s startup is going to be acquired by Carter Global next week,” he said. “We’re rolling it out to all our divisions. It’ll save us an estimated $20 million a year in fraud and waste. Within five years, it’ll be a bigger revenue stream than our construction division. That’s the future of this company. Not Robert’s lies and theft. Innovation. Integrity. Doing the right thing.”
Another board member—Linda, the only woman on the board, who’d always been nice to me when I was a kid—leaned forward, looking at me.
“What’s your plan, Daniel?” she asked. “For the company. If you’re co-CEO.”
I took a deep breath.
I’d stayed up until 3 a.m. writing this, Dad helping me, editing, adding his own ideas.
“First,” I said. “We freeze all of Robert’s and Sarah’s assets. Every dollar, every house, every car, every stock. We sue them for every penny they stole, plus damages. We’ll get most of it back. Second, we bring in a third-party audit firm to go through every division, top to bottom. No exceptions. Anyone who helped Robert, anyone who knew what he was doing and didn’t speak up—they’re fired. Effective immediately. No severance. Third, we invest $100 million in new tech—my startup, plus other small companies in Dallas run by young people who’ve been overlooked. We stop being the old, stuffy construction company that everyone thinks is corrupt. We become the company that leads. That innovates. That does the right thing. And fourth, we give every single employee a 5% bonus this year. They didn’t do anything wrong. They worked hard while Robert was stealing from us. They deserve to be rewarded.”
The room was quiet for a long minute.
Then Arthur nodded, a small smile on his face.
“I like it,” he said. “It’s bold. It’s smart. It’s exactly what this company needs. I vote yes. For Daniel as co-CEO. For all his plans.”
Linda nodded too.
“I vote yes,” she said. “We need fresh blood. New ideas. And clearly, this kid has what it takes.”
One by one, the other board members voted.
It was unanimous.
10-0.
I was co-CEO of Carter Global.
After the meeting, as we walked out of the conference room, Dad clapped me on the back, so hard I almost stumbled.
“Told you you’d be great,” he said, grinning. “You had them eating out of the palm of your hand.”
I laughed, still in shock.
“I was so nervous I thought I’d throw up,” I admitted.
“Never let them see it,” he said, winking. “Rule number one of being CEO. Even if you’re scared out of your mind, you act like you own the place. Which, technically, you now do.”
We took the elevator down to the lobby, where a crowd of reporters was waiting, microphones held high, cameras flashing.
Dad stopped, holding up his hand for quiet.
“I know you all have questions,” he said, his voice carrying over the crowd. “And we’ll answer them all in a press conference next week. But for now, I’ll say this. Carter Global is strong. It’s stable. And it’s in good hands. My son Daniel and I are going to take this company to heights I never even dreamed of. And anyone who tries to hurt our family, or our company, will regret it for the rest of their lives.”
The reporters cheered, taking more photos, shouting questions.
Dad put his arm around my shoulders, leading me through the crowd toward the waiting car.
For the first time in my life, I felt like I belonged.
Like I was exactly where I was supposed to be.
Not just James Carter’s son.
But Daniel Carter.
May you like
Co-CEO.
A man in my own right.
