Chapter 6: Read Aloud to the Board

The boardroom on 46 had a long glass table and nine chairs, and every chair but two was full at nine o'clock.

Honora sat at the head in her cream jacket with a leather folder in front of her.

Preston sat on her right with his hands under the table.

I took the empty chair at the far end, where I had always sat.

Bree's text lit up my phone: Sit up straight. You're the only sane one in that room.

Ronan came in last.

He took the seat at the other end in a black suit and a grey tie.

He did not look at me once.

The board chair called the meeting to order.

"Item one," he said. "A motion from the vice chair concerning the position of Claire Dunning."

"Thank you." Honora folded her hands. "I'd like to say first that I love Claire like a daughter."

I felt sick.

"She's my son's wife. I've watched her work herself into a collapse for two years."

She looked around the table.

"Last week she broke down in front of this entire board."

Heads turned toward me.

"A director who shakes at a pen is not well," Honora said gently.

"I believe we owe her rest, not a deadline."

She tapped the folder.

"I'm asking that she be placed on medical leave, and that Lisbon go to another director until she is fit."

"Seconded," said a man halfway down the table.

My face burned.

I knew all of them. I had sat through their budget fights and brought them partnership numbers for five years.

Some of them didn't look at me.

"This isn't gossip," Honora said. "I have her own clinical notes."

She opened the folder and took out a single printed page.

"I'll read the relevant line," she said.

"The patient reports that she wanted to crawl under the boardroom table and stay there."

Keep reading free with an account. Start Examined by the OB-GYN CEO from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.