You were right that it wasn't different. He turned and looked at her directly. I left without asking why, he said. I knew why you'd told me enough times how you think about protecting things. I could have asked instead of walking out.
You had reasons to walk out. I had reasons, he said. Doesn't mean it was the right move. It was not a resolution. They both understood it was not a resolution, but it was the first honest exchange they had managed in weeks, and it had the particular quality of something that had been cleared rather than settled.
He went back into the conference room. Natalie called an emergency board session for Thursday morning. She presented the technical documentation before Grant had the opportunity to frame the narrative. She laid out the falsified inspections, the materials discrepancies, the ownership chain connecting the contractor to Grant's fund, and the independent baseline documentation provided by Parker Technical Services from a site visit conducted months before the fraudulent signoffs. She then announced that Oralene was postponing the Pacific Crest opening indefinitely, pending a complete independent technical review and that she was initiating a formal complaint with the state contractor licensing board regarding the falsified inspection records.
The financial exposure was significant. The board understood this. She had already modeled three scenarios and presented them without softening the numbers. She did not give them the option to vote on the postponement. She told them it was her decision as CEO, that she was informing them as a matter of protocol, and that she was prepared to discuss the financial implications in detail.
Grant attempted to redirect the session twice. Both times, Natalie returned the room's attention to the documentation on the screen and asked the board members if they had questions about the technical record. They did not. Grant left before the session formally ended. His funds advisory role on the Pacific Crest project was suspended the same afternoon.
An independent review board was appointed. Natalie's project approval, the one that had been placed on hold during the conflict of interest inquiry, was reinstated within 2 weeks once it became apparent that the inquiry had been initiated based on information routed through Grant's network to members of the finance committee. She offered Ethan a consulting fee commensurate with the 4 hours he had spent in the conference room and the documentation preparation he had provided. He accepted a standard technical consultation rate which was considerably less than what she had offered. She did not argue.
She had the real estate subsidiary sell the industrial building in SoMa back to a commercial property group at the same price she had paid. She did not explain the decision to her acquisitions team beyond noting that the asset did not fit Oralene's strategic portfolio. She did not tell Ethan she had done it. He found out 3 weeks later through the same property record search that had exposed the purchase. He called her.
You sold it. He said it wasn't the right asset for us. She said a pause. Thank you. He said, "You don't have to thank me for undoing a mistake." She said, "I know." He said, "I'm thanking you anyway." Parker Technical Services moved into a smaller workshop six blocks from the original location in January.