I Stopped Chasing Him, and My New Boss Was His Brother novel · Chapter 27 of 32
Chapter 27: The Board
The institute's boardroom had a long oak table and seven chairs.
At nine on Friday morning every chair was full, and so were the walls.
The Marlow director sat at the far end with her notebook open.
Hugh sat at the near end with his lawyer, in a navy suit and a fresh haircut.
He had the face of a man who had slept well.
Tansy sat alone by the window, with her phone face-down in front of her.
Ivo and Maud stood behind my chair.
Across the room, in a corner, Hugh's father leaned on his cane.
He had not looked at his son once.
"We are here," said the board chair, an elderly man with a gray beard, "because Dr. Pendry has made a serious accusation against a former friend of the institute."
"Thank you," said Hugh, rising. "I'll be brief."
He was very good.
He talked about trust, and about a young woman who had been unwell for a long time.
He said he had stayed beside her for five years out of loyalty.
He said she had a habit of inventing stories, and he held up a printed page.
"She writes erotic fiction under a fake name," he said. "She is obsessed with one of our colleagues. Her own employer thinks she is unstable."
A board member coughed.
"This is a private matter," I said.
"You have the floor in a moment, Ms. Brandish," said the chair.
"I'd like it now."
I stood up and walked to the head of the table.
Under my arm I had a laptop and a folder of paper.
"Dr. Pendry says I stole the grant narrative," I said. "I'll show you when I wrote it."
I opened the laptop and turned it to face the room.
"Three years of documents. Every draft is saved with the date and the hour."
"The first version is from January, at eleven at night. The last edit is from the week before the foundation's deadline."
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