And the last face Marcus Webb sees before his whole life ends is yours when he realizes the man he threatened at 7 in the morning was never scared of him at all. Ryan looked at her for a long moment. That's cold, he said. Yes, it's also He shook his head.
Something like awe in it. He threatened my kid, Victoria. He sat there drinking scotch at 7:00 in the morning and threatened my seven-year-old's lungs. I'm not going to pretend I want to be gentle about it.
Good, Victoria said. Neither do I. Nobody threatens a child in my company and walks out with his dignity. Nobody.
And for a second, the CEO and the woman from Friday Night were the same person. And Ryan understood that the empire she'd built out of grief had one genuine use. One thing all that cold power was actually good for. And it was this standing between a small girl and the man who' threatened her.
Diane's voice came through the door. They're coming up 2 minutes. Sit at the far end. Victoria told Ryan fast.
Look tired. Look beaten. You're good at that. You told me it's your superpower.
Nobody looks twice. Use it. Let Marcus look at you and see exactly what he wants to see. She squeezed his arm once the same place she'd touched him in the doorway Friday night.
And Ryan, whatever he says in that room, however he looks at you, you keep your face still. You've had four years of practice keeping your face still. This is what it was for. Ryan went to the far end of the table and sat down, and he put on the face, the tired, beaten, handled it face, the face that had gotten him through four years, and he waited.
They filed in at nine sharp, 11 board members, and Marcus Webb among them, and Ryan watched him without watching him. Webb looked rested. He looked like a man who'd had a good weekend and a good breakfast and a productive series of phone calls. He took his seat halfway down the table and he sat down his coffee and his eyes went straight to the far end straight to Ryan and Ryan let him look.
Ryan let Marcus Webb see a defeated man. He slumped a little. He didn't meet Webb's eyes for long. He looked down at the table like a man carrying something heavy and out of the corner of his eye, he watched Marcus Webb see it and understand it and relax.
Webb picked up his coffee. He leaned back in his chair. He thought he'd won. Let's begin, Victoria said.
She was standing at the head of the table and she was pure CEO, now cool and precise. No trace of Friday night anywhere on her. Before we discuss the merger postmortem, I want to close out the restructuring question because it's been hanging over this division for a week and the people affected deserve an answer. Marcus, you brought the restructuring recommendation to me 3 weeks ago. four senior positions in project management to achieve the cost savings the company needs.
Is that still your recommendation? Webb sat down his coffee. It is Victoria regrettably. I've looked at the numbers every way there is.
The savings have to come from somewhere and that division's the softest target we've got. Nobody wants to cut good people, but that's the job. That's the job. Victoria agreed.
Before I sign it though, I ask the project management team to do their own analysis to look for the savings somewhere other than four families. I want to give them the chance to speak before I put four people out of work. She turned to the far end of the table. Mr.
Carter, you led that analysis. What did you find? Every head turned to Ryan. Marcus Webb turned two slow and easy coffee in hand.
And there was the smallest smile at the corner of his mouth and his eyes said, "Go on, son. Do the smart thing. Protect your little girl." Ryan looked down at the table. He let the silence stretch.
He let Marcus Webb enjoy it. I looked, Ryan said. His voice was quiet, tired, defeated. I went through the whole division budget, every project, every line.
And Victoria said, Ryan lifted his eyes and he looked at Marcus Webb and he held it. And I found four times the savings we needed, Ryan said. In a single vendor contract, routed through two shell companies back to a member of this board. The room went dead silent.
Marcus Webb's smile did not move for one full second. It just stayed on his face. A smile with nothing behind it while his brain caught up to what his ears had heard. And then it fell off all at once and the color went with it.
"Victoria," Web said, and his voice had changed. "Whatever this this employee is about to sit down, Marcus," Victoria said without heat, and she opened the folder. "You're not finished. You're just going to want to be sitting down for the rest of it.
He accessed confidential files, Webb said louder now, half rising, pointing down the table at Ryan. He's not authorized to be anywhere near vendor contracts. This is a disgruntled employee about to be laid off. He fabricated.
He was authorized, Victoria said. She slid a printed sheet down the table by me. Thursday night, 11 p.m. There's the email.
I requested a full division cost analysis with complete access to vendor documentation and I sent it before Mr. Carter opened a single file. So the access is clean. She let that sit.
Which means the only question left in this room is why a member of this board has been billing the company he's sworn to protect through two shell corporations for 6 years at almost four times the salary cost of the four people he wanted to fire to hide it. That's those contracts are legitimate vendor relationships. I can explain every then explain this one. Victoria slid another page.