Before Grant could answer, the conference chair, Evelyn Wickliffe, stood and addressed the room in a voice that carried to every corner of it, introducing him not as a stranger, but as Grant Holloway, chairman of Holloway Meridian and the controlling creditor of Conrad's entire company. The room fell into a silence so complete that the hum of the projector seemed loud by comparison. None of the executives who had laughed at Grant on the aircraft that morning dared to look in his direction now. Rows of shareholders shifted in their seats, some reaching for phones to check whether the name Evelyn had just spoken carried the weight she claimed it did. And within seconds, it became clear that it did.
Reporters near the back of the room began typing furiously. Their questions about a routine investment pitch replaced entirely by something far larger than any of them had walked in expecting to cover. Sloan remained near the side of the stage, no longer part of the presentation, but unable to make herself leave. Watching the man she had once dismissed as unremarkable command a room that had, until minutes ago, belonged entirely to Conrad. She thought, briefly and painfully, of every dinner party where she had described her marriage to Grant as a chapter she had outgrown and wondered how many of those same people were sitting in this very audience.
He kept his remarks brief, offering no boasts about personal wealth and no theatrics, choosing instead to let the evidence speak for itself. He laid out the falsified financial statements, the unexplained $86 million transfer, the scheme threatening the pension fund, the concealed maintenance data, the planned bankruptcy designed to strip value from the company, and the explicit instruction to make Sloan the sole face of every wrongdoing. Conrad denied it all, calling the accusations a coordinated hostile takeover dressed up as concern. Dana stepped forward and played the recorded call from the aircraft, supported by banking records and internal correspondence that left no room left for denial. Faced with undeniable proof, the board voted on the spot to suspend Conrad from his position immediately.