Chapter 13: Where Do I Sit

The board met at nine on Thursday in the glass room on the fourth floor.

Six directors sat on one side of the table.

Allison sat alone on the other, in the navy suit, with her resignation letter in front of her.

I took the chair at the head, because as the largest shareholder it was mine.

I did not want it.

"Ms. Draper has something to read," the chair of the board said.

Allison stood up.

"I'm resigning as chief executive, effective today."

"I'm waiving severance, my bonus and my equity vote on this motion."

"I did a thing that nobody running a company should do."

"I put my own comfort ahead of a man's mother and I let a stranger spend company money on a party."

The room was quiet.

An old director with a white mustache cleared his throat.

"Allison, you built this place with your hands. We can't just accept this."

"You have to," she said. "I'd vote for it myself if I could."

"Then who runs it?"

Every head turned to me.

"Not me," I said.

"Mr. Kemper, you hold forty percent," a woman at the end said. "You have the right."

"I have the right to sit here. I don't have the right to run a freight company I've only ever worked in the middle of."

"I have a better idea."

I looked at Allison.

"Her resignation is refused."

She stared at me.

"You can't refuse it," she said. "It's mine to give."

"It's the board's to take," I said. "And as the largest shareholder, I'm asking the board not to."

The director with the mustache leaned back.

"You want her to stay as CEO?"

"No."

"Then what?"

"I want her demoted."

Nobody in the room said a word.

"Effective today," I said. "She stays at Draper Logistics as ordinary staff. Hourly. On the warehouse floor."

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