That wasn't right. No, Damen said it wasn't. She does this. Marcus said, "Not always with money, but she does this. She decides who a person is before they get a chance to show her.
And then she's done. And nobody corrects her because he stopped again." Shook his head. Because she's the CEO, Damen said. "Because she's the CEO," Marcus confirmed. The elevator stopped at 42.
Damen looked at his reflection in the polished elevator doors before they opened. He looked at the man looking back at him. 42 Years old, gray beginning at his temples, the leather folder in his hand. The kind of face that had been underestimated so many times it had stopped being a wound and become instead a kind of information. Data something to work with, Maya had said that morning before he left the apartment.
Dad, what if they're mean to you? She was 10 years old and somehow already understood that certain rooms were built to make certain people feel like strangers. He had told her, "Then I'll be kind. That's the part I can control." She had looked at him with the particular skepticism of a 10-year-old who is smarter than most adults she knows. "That seems hard," she said.
"It is," he said. "It's also the right call." The legal floor of Caldwell Horizon Corporation was a different atmosphere. Quieter, more controlled, the kind of room where precision replaced power because power at this altitude was assumed. Damian was shown to the main conference room by an assistant who moved quickly and asked no questions. Inside, three attorneys sat on one side of a long table.
They stood when he entered. One of them, the lead, a woman in her 40s named Clare Hensley, extended her hand immediately. Mr. Brooks, I'm sorry for the difficulty this morning. We were informed.
There may have been a miscommunication downstairs. There was, Damian said. He sat down. He opened his folder and placed the documents on the table in a neat stack. Let's proceed.
Victoria arrived 11 minutes later. She came in with Gerald and two more of her attorneys and a particular brand of composure that Damian recognized as something that had been constructed very quickly in a short elevator ride. She sat across from him without making eye contact, which told him she was still processing, still reconfiguring, still searching for a position in this new landscape. He didn't make it harder. I know this morning went differently than I planned, he said when everyone was seated.
I'd like to be direct about what this acquisition means and doesn't mean. And then I'd like to hear your questions. I think we can have an honest conversation. Victoria looked at him for the first time since the lobby. You plan to buy this company without telling me.