"Mrs. Madden, you're here."

She hurried over to greet them. Conrad West, who had been sitting quietly but was among the first to raise his hand during the vote, frowned. He quickly grabbed Eartha Porter Madden's arm and stood up to welcome her.

"Mom, what are you doing here? You're unwell. You shouldn't be in such a chaotic place."

Conrad stepped forward, reaching out to support the elderly woman's other arm.

Eartha followed closely behind, her tone laced with disapproval. "Jerome, I know you're ambitious and hate playing second fiddle, but you shouldn't have tricked her into coming. She's ill. Even when Dad was running things, she never had to worry about corporate matters. Now that he's sick, dragging her into this mess is highly inappropriate."

She reached out as if to take over. "Godmother, let me take you back to rest. Or maybe you're missing Godfather? How about I take you to the hospital to see him?"

Eartha knew perfectly well that Bernice was deeply dependent on Nelson.

She was deliberately using his name to trigger the elderly woman.

Her ultimate goal was to make Bernice throw a public, hysterical fit.

However, Bernice had been video-calling Nelson every day.

Eartha's malicious hopes were dashed. Instead of breaking down, Bernice stared coldly at the approaching couple and snapped.

"You two have some nerve. I don't know you. Get out of my way!"

She turned to Jerome, her voice shifting to a confused murmur. "Jerome, who are these people? Why are they pointing fingers? This is my family's company. Am I not allowed here?"

Conrad and Eartha froze in humiliation.

Chairman Porter quickly stood up and walked over to intervene.

"Sister-in-law, no one is saying you can't be here. It's just that we have a crucial meeting today. Why don't I have someone take you to Nelson's office for some tea? There are plenty of lovely photos of the two of you in there."

At the mention of the photos, Bernice's eyes lit up.

She was tempted to agree, but she remembered a strict warning.

Before coming upstairs, her husband had given her one specific instruction: do not listen to anyone except Jerome.

She turned her head to look at her grandson. "Jerome, can I go?"

Jerome smiled warmly. "There's no rush, Grandma. Once the meeting is over, I'll take you there myself. How does that sound?"

It was a polite but firm denial.

Realizing the man was trying to get rid of her, Bernice snapped her head back toward Chairman Porter.

"You're lying to me too, you old, ugly thief!"

The word 'thief' was a perfect description of Chairman Porter's current actions.

He was trying to steal the Madden empire while its patriarch was fighting for his life.

Bernice's blunt insult struck such a raw nerve that Chairman Porter almost wondered if the old woman was faking her dementia.

His expression hardened into a cold sneer, and he dropped the welcoming act.

Let the old hag stay. What difference did it make? Her shares, combined with Jerome's, weren't nearly enough to turn the tide.

With Nelson still comatose, any will he might have left was effectively useless.

What did he have to fear?

Once he officially took over as chairman, his first order of business would be purging all the Madden loyalists and anyone who refused to bow to him.

Then, he would use dirt-cheap

tactics to strip the remaining

it

Madden shares was only

of time before the company was rebranded as the Porter Group.

"Go get a chair for your godmother," he ordered Eartha, striking a magnanimous pose.

Catching his drift, Eartha arranged for a seat to be brought over.

Jerome helped his grandmother settle in. With a subtle nod from Jerome, the lawyer trailing behind them stepped forward, presenting a legally binding document confirming that Bernice had granted Jerome fuÏÏ proxy to manage her shares.

With that, Jerome held fifteen percent. Lynn Shen, who was fiercely loyal to the Maddens, brought their total to eighteen

percent, The three ter net

held

twenty-two percent, and they had been relentlessly lobbying