Chapter 6 - The Emergency Boardroom Convening
On Thursday morning at 9:30 AM, the 40th-floor corporate headquarters of Corbin BioTech in downtown Atlanta was swarming with private security, institutional shareholders, and national financial journalists.
The emergency assembly of the Board of Directors had been convened in the grand executive boardroom. Floor-to-ceiling glass windows overlooked the Atlanta skyline under a brilliant, sun-drenched autumn sky.
At the center of the thirty-foot Brazilian walnut conference table sat Douglas Corbin, radiating polished, sociopathic confidence in a three-piece charcoal Savile Row suit. Beside him sat Gertrude, wearing an ivory Chanel dress, and Douglas’s mother, Evelyn Corbin, clutching an alligator-skin handbag with an expression of haughty, matriarchal arrogance.
Sitting at the visitor’s table near the presentation screens were Christopher Miller and Brenda Thorne, representing ApexBio Solutions, their legal documents neatly arranged in leather folders.
Sitting in the public gallery at the back of the room was Florence Miller—Christopher’s mother—who had flown in from San Diego to watch her son close the "multi-million-dollar deal of his career." She was wearing her finest Sunday pearls, sneering haughtily at the junior associates.
Lead Independent Director Arthur Montgomery cleared his throat, tapping his gavel against the wooden sound block.
“This extraordinary session of the Board of Governors of Corbin BioTech is now called to order,” Montgomery announced in a solemn, heavy baritone. “The primary item on the docket is Motion 44-B: The Formal Declaration of Medical Incapacitation of Founder and President Garrett Corbin, and the subsequent transfer of executive voting proxies to Executive Vice President Douglas Corbin.”
Douglas stood up, placing his right hand over his heart with an expression of rehearsed, mournful sorrow.
“Esteemed members of the board,” Douglas began, his voice trembling with manufactured grief. “It is with an agonizing, broken heart that I present this motion today. For eight months, our family has prayed for a neurological miracle. But as the certified deposition from Chief Medical Officer Dr. Harold Vance demonstrates... my beloved brother Garrett has suffered irreversible cognitive and motor decline. He can no longer speak clearly, he cannot move his limbs, and he cannot protect this company from commercial stagnation.”
Douglas gestured to Christopher Miller.
“Therefore, to ensure the financial survival of this enterprise and protect the Corbin legacy, I move to execute the exclusive patent conveyance of the NeuroCure platform to ApexBio Solutions for sixty-five million dollars.”
Christopher Miller smiled smugly, standing up to deliver the closing execution binder.
“ApexBio is honored to partner with the visionary leadership of Douglas Corbin,” Christopher boasted, looking around the room of billionaire investors. “We have eighty million dollars in liquidity ready to wire upon signature.”
Arthur Montgomery looked at the signature page, his pen hovering over the document.
“Are there any objections from the voting members before the gavel falls?” Montgomery asked.
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Before a single director could speak, the heavy, ten-foot double oak doors at the back of the boardroom were pushed open with a sharp, concussive bang.
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