While the two of them sat there stunned, I turned to face the shareholders gathered around the conference table.
"You all love calling me an uneducated nobody who built something from nothing. You think I'm dead weight, that I'm useless." I let my gaze sweep across every single one of them. "But it seems you've forgotten something."
"When this company was still in its infancy, a rival targeted us and seized an entire shipment at the port."
"Everyone said Olive Henson was finished. But I have never accepted that kind of fate."
"I took a knife, went to that dock alone, and fought to get that shipment back. I risked my life to save this company."
"I have weathered storms you people can't even imagine. You really think a school of bottom-feeders like you is going to sink me?"
Terry clenched his fists, teeth grinding as he glared at me.
"Olive, that's ancient history. It doesn't mean anything now."
"Asking you to leave the company isn't just my opinion. It's all of ours."
He rose to his feet, slow and deliberate, and swept his gaze across the shareholders.
"Isn't that right?"
With Terry backing them up, they found their courage.
"That's right!"