Chapter 19: The Corner Under the Maple

Silvan's POV

The chairman's office was on twelve, with a view of the river and a rug I had always disliked.

He was behind the desk when I walked in without knocking.

"Silvan," he said. "I won't pretend I'm sorry about the vote. But I'll say you handled yourself."

"I'm resigning my seat."

His pen stopped.

I put the letter on the blotter.

I had written it on the elevator, on the back of a meeting agenda, and signed it against the wall.

"Effective now. Voting seat, board chair, all of it. I'll stay on as chief executive under the operating agreement until you find a replacement."

"You can't resign your way out of Article Nine."

"I'm not resigning out of it. I'm resigning so it can't reach her."

He leaned back.

"Explain."

"You told this room the seat ends if the panel stamps a release. As long as I hold it, she signs or refuses that form with my job in her lap."

"That's a rather romantic view of paperwork."

"It's a plain one. She has fourteen days to sign or refuse the release, and she will not be allowed to wonder whether I'm asking her to save me."

"She's the one who said she'd refuse."

"She said she hadn't signed," I said. "She didn't say she would refuse. And I'm not going to be in the room when she decides."

He picked up the letter, read it, and put it down very slowly.

"You understand that you have just done what I spent two years failing to do."

"I understand that you have what you wanted, and she has her choice back. It costs me one chair."

"Your father held that chair for thirty years."

"My father," I said, "would have told her in person."

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