Divorced Heiress
Chapter 117

"Sarah, are you okay?" Vincent's voice heard very distant, as if we were far away from each other, as if a few meters separated us.

Since the moment he gave me that news, which was very bad for me, I had not been able to get out of my state of shock. I refused to believe that he was leaving me, I wanted to believe it was a joke, a very bad one, but no, he was very serious.

I could tell by his face, by his eyes full of sincerity mixed with sadness. He knew that this decision would not only affect the company, but also me, he had always been involved in all the events of Doinel, he had been so unconditional with me, and it was not just because he was my cousin, no, he was like my best friend and now, he was leaving me in the middle of chaos.

Had I been so bad with him?

I had not been able to react to that news, until Alexander approached me with a glass of water, but I didn't want to drink it, not until Vincent gave me his reasons.

"Why?" I could barely form that question that left a bad taste in my mouth.

What did I do to make him want to leave everything behind?

Was the company in such a bad state that he wants to abandon the ship?

Why did he want to retire, when he had been my right-hand man, an indispensable person for this company?

"We better talk about it in the boardroom. Abby went for the reports from the finance department, they're ready." Vincent didn't give me the answer to my question and I started to feel out of breath, this was overwhelming me.

"Sarah, sweetheart, have some water before you leave, you're trembling with nerves." Alexander insisted that I drink from the glass of water and I took a sip reluctantly, although in a way, hydrating myself only slightly reduced the nerves of the situation.

I took a deep breath that helped me think things through calmly and for a moment I suspected that Vincent had some plan in mind, because he wouldn't be able to leave me alone like this.

What would I do without my cousin's support?

Alexander ended up accompanying me to the boardroom, following a silent Vincent, but I stopped in the middle of the hallway when I saw Julian near Patrick's workshop, then I realized that to make the decision to use L&J to save Doinel, I needed my partners to be present at the meeting Vincent had planned at the last minute, and of course, they had to agree with my strategy.

"Go on without me, I need to make a call, I'll be with you in a moment." I told Alexander, who had his fingers intertwined with mine and looked at me confused, he didn't expect that at all.

"Are you sure?" He asked as he stopped at the same time as me and I nodded my head.

"Don't take long, we'll be waiting for you."

Alexander continued on his way and when he disappeared from my sight, I sent a message to Alexis to come as quickly as possible and gave him a brief explanation of how important his presence would be, after all, he was also a partner of L&J, he needed to be here.

I put away my phone and approached Julian, who was talking to his assistant outside the workshop assigned to Innova.

"Sorry for the interruption."

Julian looked at me with a hint of surprise in his eyes upon hearing my voice and immediately closed the color chart he had in his hand.

"Julian, are you free now? We have a meeting right now, I would like you to be present. But first, I have to inform you of a proposal that concerns you."

"Sure, but, is it something serious? You seem a bit tense."

I let out a tired sigh before shaking my head in response to that question that was starting to leave a bad taste in my mouth, I didn't expect to be an open book.

"I'm all ears."

It took me a few minutes to fill him in on the situation, he was so surprised and indignant, that he agreed with the strategy I had in mind, he was willing to collaborate in any way to save Doinel.

"Sarah, you know you can count on me for whatever you need, you have my support in any way you require, you're not alone, okay? I'm your partner and your friend."

I nodded with a half-smile on my face, grateful for his genuine support.

Alexis appeared when the metal elevator doors opened, and to my surprise, he wasn't alone. Britney was with him, and by the unfriendly look on her face, I knew she was angry with me for the way I left her at L&J, but I had valid reasons. "Can I know what the hell is wrong with you? You left me hanging, I mean, I deserve some respect or at least an explanation."

Bri couldn't hide her anger since she arrived, and she quickly made her way to me with flushed cheeks. I remained calm in my place, as I had more urgent matters to attend to at the moment and her indignation would fade quickly. "Britney, there are many problems at Doinel, Paul is in jail, I thought my son was in danger, I'm sorry, okay? We can discuss it later."

My friend's indignant face made it clear that she didn't like my response at all, although I could see a hint of concern in her eyes.

However, she turned to look at Alexis, who was behind her in complete silence, and he made a gesture with his head that made her take a deep breath, letting her guard down as she turned to look at me with a calmer expression. What surprised me the most was that with just a glance, Alexis managed to calm her down.

"Okay, I won't make a big deal out of it. I'll wait for you to solve whatever you need to solve, and I'll be here waiting to give you important information for L&J."

My eyes widened, and I looked at Alexis as if he could tell me more about it, now that Britney had walked away to sit in the waiting room.

"Important companies are interested in the collection."

Of course, Alexis knew, and now that I knew, I was interested in knowing all the details.

"Bri, I have a meeting right now. Will you come with me?" I headed towards her, hoping that her annoyance had completely dissipated. She looked at me for a few seconds, as if she was doubting whether it was worth staying mad at me, and ended up nodding as she got up from the couch.

"I have a lot to talk to you about."

She followed the path to the boardroom as if she knew it by heart, and I returned to Alexis and Julian, who were already aware of the proposal and the strategy I would present in the board meeting.

"Are you ready?" I asked the two men, and they both nodded as if they were waiting for any indication from me to make a move.

In the boardroom, everyone was ready to begin, and they were all surprised to see me enter with Alexis and Julian, especially Alexander, who looked at his twin with obvious confusion. He even shifted uncomfortably in his seat with Tristan on his lap. While everyone prepared what was necessary for the meeting, I took Britney aside to be filled in on the companies interested in the collection, and the information she gave me was more than good. L&J was off to a great start.

The meeting started by informing us, through the finance manager, about the poor handling of assets, the million-dollar embezzlement, and the almost non-existent profits that the company still held. But that wasn't enough. The situation was a ticking time bomb, and if we didn't act immediately, we'd lose everything.

"I've been working on a strategy with Jack, with it, we could recover in a short amount of time, maybe months or even weeks." I spoke after a long silence in which everyone processed the horrifying information about Doinel's terrible management, which led to its ruin in such a short time.

"Now, only a miracle could save the company in months or weeks after such a catastrophe. I don't want to be pessimistic, but let's be realistic, Mr. Dubois left us the remains of a company." The finance manager spoke from his perspective, showing genuine concern for the current situation of the company, and I understood his fear very well. The figures were larger than anticipated.

"Thank you for your words, but my proposal could be very useful and although it doesn't solve the problem completely, the recovery will be remarkable. I will use L&J to recover Doinel."

I stood up from my seat, catching the attention of those present. My mind went blank when I saw everyone's expression, some seemed hopeless, others incredulous, and Vincent looked expressionless. It took me a couple of seconds to formulate my strategy with the confidence that I had given up on, all thanks to Julian's supportive smile, who, apparently, was the only one who believed in my ideas.

I presented the risks and benefits of my proposal, the idea was to associate both companies, that way, L&J would inject a significant amount of money as an investor, as well as grant Doinel million-dollar loans, to cover part of the lost assets and launch a new collection on the same date as the collaboration with Lancaster and Innova. My company started with great success, so much so that it could afford to take on Doinel's responsibilities.

"I disagree." Vincent's voice left me frozen when I finished speaking, but I quickly recovered when I remembered his decision and that I didn't support it at all, definitely, the situation that Paul left us in was causing us more than just a money problem. "L&J is just starting, no one guarantees us that it will be successful enough for that, we are talking about a million-dollar company, I'm sorry, but I disagree, it would be execution for L&J, it would end before even starting."

"The sales reports after the launch are really favorable, even though L&J also has to fulfill its responsibilities, its recent and constant growth allows it to be an investor and lender, as I said at the beginning, while it wouldn't be enough to fully recover Doinel, it would at least give it a great boost."

Vincent opened his mouth to continue contradicting me, but he didn't know what to say, he wasn't aware of L&J's unprecedented success and the great help it could be.

"I think it's a great idea, as a partner of L&J, you have all my support and as a collaborator of Doinel, I inform you that the royalties I receive from the collaboration, I will donate for the prompt recovery of the company."

I opened my eyes wide when I heard those words from Julian and shook my head, that was the most unfair thing I had ever heard in my life.

"Of course not, Julian, you don't have to, it's your work, your effort, your money and..."

Julian interrupted me as I refused to accept such an absurdity.

"Sarah, the money doesn't interest me. I collaborated with Doinel, I collaborated with you, I already won."

That left me astonished, I didn't know how to interpret his words, nor did I have the mental capacity to do so, all I could think about was his good heart and how willing he was to give us a hand.

A throat clearing made me look away from Julian and focus on Alexander, who seemed uncomfortable with the situation.

"My royalties will also be at the disposal of the company and..."

"No! Everyone is making bad decisions, first L&J, and now the collaborators' royalties." Vincent stood up in agitation and I let out a tired sigh at the irony of life.

"Bad decisions? Bad decisions, just like yours of selling your shares in the company right now?" My question provoked more than one gasp of surprise and all eyes in the room turned towards him, except for Alexander's who continued to look at me uncomfortably. "What did you do?" Abby asked, unable to believe the bombshell I had just dropped without stopping to think if it was right to say it in front of so many people.

"I can't believe it, Vincent, you're going to run away from all of this just like that."

"No! I'm not running away!" Vincent raised his voice with irritation, causing Tristan to wake up from his comfortable nap in his father's lap.

"God, I'm sorry."

"Alright, let's take a break. " Alexis intervened, being the only one who looked unperturbed and tried to cut the tension that had been created.

"It's understandable that it's a complicated moment, but we won't solve anything by getting upset."

"I'm sorry, it wasn't my intention to shout, it's just that all of this has me a little tense." Vincent apologized again and sat down in his chair before taking a deep breath to speak.

"I want you to understand something, I'm not selling my shares because I'm running away at the most critical moment or because I'm abandoning the ship, no. Don't think that this decision hasn't cost me, it's my family's company and you know I've dedicated time and a lot of work to keep it as successful as it has always been, and this is no exception. If I don't do this, we may not even have a company in the future and we know that many families depend on this job."

Now that he was explaining himself better, in a calmer manner, I understood his reasons for selling his shares, however, I didn't agree with leaving his part of the company in the hands of a stranger.

"That's why I will sell my shares to someone who can do more for the company than I can do."

My brow automatically furrowed, not knowing what he meant by that, I didn't understand how he was so sure of that if the decision to sell was recent, how was it that he already had a buyer? Then, that question answered itself in my head, but his next words confirmed it all for me.

"I will sell my shares to Alexander."