You're telling me you're about to merge with the company that killed my wife. I didn't know that when I agreed to it, Victoria said, her voice tightening with something between defensiveness and shame. The deal was structured by our board and their board 18 months ago. I inherited it when I took over as CEO. I have never once met Richard Voss in person.
But you know him now, Ethan said. And you're about to hand him even more control over the parts that go into your aircraft. Not if what we're finding is true, Victoria said firmly. Ethan, I promise you, if Voss knowingly shipped a defective part and covered it up, that merger is dead the second this evidence is confirmed. I don't care what it costs the company.
I don't care what my board says. I am not putting my name on a partnership with a man who did what he did to you. Your board might feel differently, Ethan said quietly. Boards usually do when there's $200 million on the table. Victoria didn't answer that because they both knew he was right.
The board meeting happened Friday morning and Ethan wasn't in the room for it. He had no official standing to be there, no title, no seat at that table, just a janitor's uniform hanging in his closet at home, and a story that had become against his will. The biggest thing to happen to Sky Nova Aerospace in a decade, he waited outside in the same hallway where Whitfield had told him Voss's name two days earlier, sitting on a bench with his phone in his hand, half expecting a text from Carol about Sophie, half dreading whatever was happening behind those closed doors. The doors finally opened at 11:40. Victoria walked out first, her face unreadable, followed by six board members whose expressions ranged from grim to openly hostile.
One of them, a silver-haired man Ethan didn't recognize. Expensive suit, the kind of watch that cost more than Ethan's car, stopped directly in front of him. Mr. Cole, the man said, extending a hand Ethan didn't take. Franklin Meyer, board chairman. I understand you're the man responsible for all of this.
I'm the man who almost died catching a defective part your company's been shipping for years, Ethan said flatly. If that's what you mean by responsible. Meyer's jaw tightened. The merger with Halloway Dynamics represents a $240 million consolidation that took 18 months to negotiate. I want to be very clear with you about what's at stake here before this goes any further than it already has.
Are you threatening me? I'm informing you, Meyer said coldly, that there is a version of this situation where the coupling defect gets attributed to a single bad batch, a regrettable but isolated quality control lapse. Corrective action gets taken quietly and everyone involved, including you. Mr. Cole walks away with their lives significantly improved. Sky Nova is prepared to offer you a substantial settlement, seven figures, a permanent non-disclosure arrangement, your daughter's education fully funded through graduate school.
In exchange, we would need your full cooperation in characterizing this as an isolated incident unrelated to any prior program at Edwards Air Force Base. The hallway went silent. Ethan looked at the man for a long moment and something in his chest, something that had been simmering since the moment he heard Richard Voss's name finally reached its boiling point. "You want me to say my wife's death and today's near catastrophe were unrelated?" Ethan said slowly.
"So your company can keep its merger and Richard Voss can keep his job and nobody ever has to answer for shipping a part they knew would kill people. I want you to consider the well-being of your daughter," Meyer said. his voice softening into something that sounded almost paternal and felt to Ethan deeply obscene. You have a chance here to secure her entire future. Financial security you will never see again in your lifetime. All you have to do is let the past stay in the past.