He said, "And I keep thinking about the fact that Nathan Cross sat in executive meetings with you for 11 years. He watched you build this company. He knew what it cost you. And he decided to use that knowledge to help someone take it away from you. A pause.
That makes me angry. I don't usually carry anger around because it's not useful, but that one is staying with me. Victoria was quiet. He was passed over for CFO 2 years ago, she said. When I promoted David Kim instead, I thought Nathan had accepted it.
He seemed to. She looked at her hands. I never looked for the part that hadn't. That's not on you. I should have seen it.
You can't see what someone is determined to hide. He looked at her. You know that you've been hiding things successfully for years. She looked up sharply. Then slowly she recognized the honesty in it.
For what? It was not criticism, just truth. And something in her settled. Fair, she said quietly. Board meeting is Friday, he said.
10:00 I'll be there. She shook her head. You're not on the board agenda. I know. I'll be there anyway.
He held her gaze. Unless you'd rather walk in alone. Something moved through her expression. The old reflex of self-sufficiency. The 14 years of managing everything alone.
The particular pride of a woman who had built an empire on the foundation of not needing anyone. He could see her reach for it. And then he watched her choose not to use it. No, she said. I wouldn't.
The board meeting was in the Hayes Innovation's main conference room on the executive floor, the one with the glass walls and the long table and the view of the city that was designed to communicate the scale of what happened inside it. There were 11 board members. Seven were present in person. Four on screen. Richard Voss sat at the far end of the table in a charcoal suit, flanked by two people Darius didn't recognize.