Previously…
– Molly and Brent accepted custody of Gabrielle, but the little girl struggled with the transition to a new home.
– With Loretta behind bars, Finn was unable to contact her, so he took matters into his own hands and convinced Gia that it was time to hold an emergency board meeting to have Molly voted out of Objection Designs. 
– After noticing a mysterious after-hours meeting on the calendar, Samantha and Trevor realized that Gia and Finn were planning something at Objection. Trevor alerted Molly.

“Oh, and if she doesn’t want macaroni and cheese, we have some of those chicken nuggets in the freezer. The dinosaur-shaped ones. You can always try those.”

Molly Taylor pulls open the bottom freezer drawer of the oversized, stainless steel refrigerator in her kitchen. 

“Yep, they’re right here,” she concludes before sliding the freezer closed. “And if she needs–”

“Dessert? I can handle that,” Brent Taylor says. “Mol, I’ve got it under control. I swear.”

Molly exhales heavily. “I know you do. I’m just… it’s the first time I’ve left Gabrielle, really.”

“And I’m her dad. I managed to get Caleb and Christian all the way to college. I think I can handle a toddler on my own for a few hours.”

“Of course you can. She’s just been so…” 

“Finicky?”

“That’s a nice way of putting it. I knew this adjustment was going to be tough, but it’s brutal.” For a fleeting moment, her mind hitches on the idea that she shared with her mother, about asking Travis and Rosie for help with the transition. But right now, she has to focus on work. She looks around, semi-frantic, before locating her purse on the opposite counter. She hurries over to grab it. “I have no idea how long this will take.”

“You focus on whatever’s happening at the office,” Brent tells her in a reassuring tone. 

“I know exactly what’s happening,” Molly says. “As soon as Trevor called, I opened my laptop and checked my Objection e-mail. Of course they sent the notice about the emergency board meeting there.”

“Thinking you wouldn’t see it until it was too late.”

“Exactly. I’m so grateful to Trevor and Samantha for piecing this together and letting me know.” She checks the time on her phone and then sticks it into her Hermes bag. “I should get going. Do I look okay?”

Brent grins at his wife, who wears a black turtleneck with a silver Chanel pendant necklace. “You look incredible. As always.”

“I would have run out of here in my yoga pants, but I’m sure that would just make people think that I’ve lost my touch and am no longer fit to run a fashion company,” she says. “Are you sure you have everything under control?”

“I promise you. I’ve got it. Gabrielle and I are going to have some dinner and play whatever she wants, and I’ll get her ready for bed.”

“Thank you.” She leans in and kisses him on the lips.

“You don’t have to thank me. I’m her dad. Good luck at the office, okay?”

“Thanks,” Molly says, worry etched into her face. “Knowing what a snake Gia is, I’m going to need it.”

In an elegantly appointed, glass-walled conference room on the eighteenth floor of Winston Tower, Gia Vincent stands near the entrance, greeting board members as they arrive for the evening’s emergency meeting. 

“Jasper. So good to see you again,” she says to Jasper Zinzival. “Thank you for coming on such short notice.”

The slender, middle-aged man, whose hair has tipped more toward the salt side of salt-and-pepper in recent years, wears a merlot-colored scarf around his neck and a pair of thick black glasses. “Of course,” he replies. “This must be urgent.”

“It is. It’s about the future of this company. I know we’ve discussed this before, but things are getting kind of dire.”

Jasper leans in closer and whispers, “You have my backing, Gia. You know that.”

She offers him a somber nod. “Thank you.”

As the board member moves off to join the handful of others seated at the large, marble-topped conference table, Finn Campbell sidles up to Gia.

“The video link is up and running,” he tells her in a hushed tone. “I have confirmations from a few board members who’ll be joining that way.”

“As long as they vote in my favor, I don’t care where they vote from,” Gia says quietly, though her brash tone comes through in full force. “I hate to admit this, but I’m a little nervous.”

“That’s only natural,” Finn says, “but don’t be. We have the votes, Gia. This is only a formality.”

She adjusts her expression, plastering on one of confidence. “I hope you’re right.” Then she turns and saunters off to mingle with another arriving board member.

So do I, Finn thinks as he picks up a basket of water bottles to distribute. I’ve invested too much time and energy in trying to get my mother’s company away from Molly to give up now.

—–

As Trevor Brooks opens the front door of the house he shares with his husband and their son, the enticing scents of garlic and onion immediately make themselves known. Trevor’s stomach rumbles, a reminder of the lunch that he skipped once the intense situation at the office made itself clear. 

“Trevor?” Alex Marshall calls out, and Trevor follows the voice – and the aromas – to the closed-in kitchen of the bungalow. 

“It smells amazing in here,” Trevor says, as he moves toward his husband and wraps an arm around Alex’s waist.

“It’s so gloomy out. I thought a cozy pasta dinner would be nice,” Alex tells him before turning his head to greet Trevor with a quick kiss.

“Where’s Chase?”

“Upstairs cleaning his room after I asked him for the 83rd time or so.”

“Good. I peeked in there this morning and almost screamed.”

“You’re telling me.” Alex stirs the pasta and boiling water in the copper pot atop the stove. “How was work?”

“Um… interesting.”

Now Alex turns away from the stove. “Interesting how?”

Trevor bites down on his lower lip as he selects his next words. “Turns out you were right.”

“About…?”

“About Finn and Gia,” Trevor explains. “Samantha and I put together that there’s some kind of secret, last-minute board meeting happening tonight. I’m 99% sure that they’ve been working the board in hopes of ousting Molly from the company.”

“What?!” Alex’s eyes flare wide. “Does Molly know?”

“I let her know immediately. I almost asked Finn outright, but Gia was within hearing distance, and I kept thinking… if it’s gone this far, he’s loyal to her, and he’s not going to spill the beans. So I called Molly instead. She’s on it.” 

“Do you need to be there?”

Trevor shakes his head. “I was originally going to hang around to keep an eye on things, but Molly thought it would make them suspicious.” He glances at the time on the microwave. “She should be on her way, if she’s not there already.”

“Wow,” Alex says. “When I saw Katherine Fitch calling Finn… I just got a bad feeling.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t believe you right away.”

“It’s okay. We never want to believe the worst about people.”

“She must’ve made some big promises to Finn to get him to participate in this,” Trevor says. “Molly started making calls right away, so she’s doing what she can.”

“I can’t believe she has to handle this on her own,” Alex says, “especially in the middle of everything she’s had going on with Gabrielle.”

“I know.” Trevor fishes his iPhone out of the pocket of his trousers and checks for updates from Molly, but there are none yet. “I hope she gets there in time.”

“Me, too. Gia must feel pretty confident in her odds if she went ahead and called the meeting.”

“Camille taught Molly everything she knew and left her the company because she trusted her,” Trevor says. “I bet she’d be appalled that someone like Gia was trying to steal it out from under her.”

“Let’s keep our fingers crossed,” Alex says, taking Trevor’s hands. “This isn’t over yet.”

—–

In the lobby of Winston Tower, Samantha Fisher observes the street traffic outside as she waits nervously. In her hand, she clutches her Objection Designs employee badge, the black lanyard scrunched in her palm as the plastic ID card digs into her skin. 

When she feels her cell phone vibrating in the pocket of her khakis, she scrambles to retrieve it. But when she sees that it is her mother calling, she nearly sends the call to voicemail; however, a sense of guilt prompts her to answer instead.

“Hey, Mom,” she says.

“Hey,” Diane Bishop replies. “Where are you?”

“I’m, um, still at work.”

“Ah, okay. I thought you’d be here a while ago.”

“Oh, no. I’m so sorry. I completely forgot we were supposed to have dinner,” Samantha says, feeling an even greater twinge of guilt now. “Things here got a little crazy.”

“We can rain-check,” Diane says. 

“No, I’ll come over as soon as I’m done,” Samantha assures her.

“Okay. I was thinking of ordering Chinese. Do you want anything? Your usual?”

“That’s perfect. Thanks, Mom,” Samantha says, her eyes once again scanning the street outside for her cue. Bright headlights seem even brighter against the dark sky and pavement. 

“…and one Mongolian beef with fried rice,” Diane says to herself as she, Samantha presumes, jots down the order. “Any idea when you’ll be home?”

“I shouldn’t be too much longer,” she answers distractedly. “I don’t think.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Diane asks. “Not to be all Helicopter Mom–”

“I’ll have to tell you all about it when I get home,” Samantha says. “Right now, I need to go. I kind of have a mission.”

“A mission?”

“I’ll explain later. I love you,” Samantha tells her, and she ends the call. This time, she keeps the phone in her hand, as the other hand continues clutching her ID badge tightly. 

—–

The headlights of Molly’s champagne-colored Mercedes cut through the Pacific Northwest darkness as the sedan drives into downtown King’s Bay. She sees a sea of red brake lights up ahead, forming what looks like an endless barrier between her and Winston Tower.

“No! No,” she exclaims, as she strikes the steering wheel with her palm in frustration. Her entire being vibrates with anxious energy. 

After waiting what feels like forever for a traffic light in the distance to turn green, she is finally able to inch the car forward, only to have the light turn yellow before she even reaches it.

“Gah!” she says to the empty car. Then, using the crisp AirPlay display of the Mercedes’ built-in screen, she scrolls through her contacts and selects one. She uses her index finger – noting the manicure that has fallen by the wayside since Gabrielle came home – to place a call.

Sharp ringing fills the car. It rings once, then twice. By the third call, Molly’s heart is sinking as her panic continues rising.

“Why aren’t you answering?” she asks the screen, where Katherine Fitch’s name is displayed.

—–

“Counting the folks we have in-person and on video, it looks like we have a quorum present, so let’s call the meeting to order,” announces Tony Godwin, the Chairman of the Board of Objection Designs. The portly older man, one of Camille’s original investors, does not look the part of someone who would be involved with a fashion design house, but his decades of business experience more than qualify him. “Thank you all for being here. We have a, um, motion on the table from several folks – Penelope, Cynthia, and Alan – and they’ve asked Gia Vincent, acting Chief Creative Officer, to speak on their behalf.”

Finn stands just outside the glass-enclosed conference room, peering in to observe the silent proceedings. He watches as Gia rises from a chair in the corner of the room and steps to the head of the table.

“Thank you, Tony,” she says, keeping an impressive smile on her face despite the tense situation. 

Or maybe she’s really that happy to be staging a coup, Finn thinks. 

“The motion on the table today is one that isn’t being presented lightly,” Gia begins inside the room. “I’ve had conversations with several of you, discussing how happy we all are with Objection’s numbers lately. Let me walk you through a few numbers…”

A slidedeck appears on the projector screen behind her, and Gia steps aside to present it. Finn watches the soundless demonstration, occasionally glancing back to make sure that there is no activity by the elevators. 

Some minutes later, Gia finishes the final slide and tells the board members, “As you can see, our numbers are trending upward ever since I stepped in, following two disappointing quarters that no doubt were impacted by all the turmoil in poor Molly’s personal life. And with her issues perhaps quieting down – for the time being – we all feel that it’s the right time to ask: would it make more sense for the company and its shareholders to keep the current creative team in place?”

—–

Down in the lobby, Samantha hurries outside as soon as she sees her aunt’s champagne-toned luxury car pull up to the curb. The winter cold strikes her harshly, but she moves swiftly to the driver’s side, just as Molly is slipping out of the car.

“Here you go,” Samantha says, handing her the ID badge.

“Thank you. Just text me where you park it, okay?”

“Of course. Good luck, Aunt Molly.”

“Thank you,” Molly says with widened eyes before she storms toward the building’s entrance.

—–

“Another vote for retaining the current creative team, headed by Gia,” Tony Godwin announces as he moves around the table, taking each board member’s vote. 

Gia stands to the side as the vote is conducted, hands clasped in front of herself. She watches as the members cast their votes.

Two more and I have majority, she thinks, excitement swelling within her. After all this time, Molly will be out, and she will be the head of Objection.

Outside the conference room, Finn watches the proceedings with intense interest. Although he cannot hear how the members are voting, he can tell from Gia’s face that it is going well. Just as Godwin is about to call on the next person to vote, however, Finn hears the ding of an elevator and swivels around.

“What are you doing here?” he asks as Molly steps off the elevator and, without missing a beat, beelines for the conference room.

“There’s a board meeting. I’m on the board,” she says briskly.

“How did you get into the building?”

She flashes an employee ID badge – which can’t be hers, since it was suspended when she was – without breaking her stride. 

“Whoever gave you that violated company policy,” Finn says, but Molly, undaunted, goes straight into the conference room. She stands at the open door, and Finn steps up right behind her. Gia shoots him a look, as if to ask, What the hell?

“I’m sorry I’m late,” Molly says. “It’s difficult to be on time for something when the meeting notice is sent to a place that everyone knows you don’t check regularly. Funny how that happens, huh?”

She greets a few of the board members, who regard her either with surprise or relief.

“We’re holding a vote,” Godwin tells her, “as I believe you know. I can review–”

“I’m pretty sure I know what the vote is for,” Molly says, “and I’d like to go on record as voting against the permanent installation of Gia Vincent as CCO of Objection.”

Gia does everything in her power to restrain her annoyance from showing. “All right, that’s a nay vote,” she says. “We can move on.”

“Not so fast,” Molly announces. “We have someone else joining us in a moment.” She removes her iPhone from her purse and sends a quick message. A moment later, a new participant box appears on the video conferencing screen.

“Who is that?” Gia mutters at the new virtual arrival. 

END OF EPISODE 1211

What last-minute save has Molly lined up?
Do Gia and Finn still stand a chance of winning?
Has Finn lost Trevor’s confidence now?
Talk about it all in the comments below!

Next Episode