Chapter 21: The Vote

Nina's POV

The merger partner's delegation was three people in gray suits, and they sat on the far side of the walnut table with their hands folded.

The woman at the center had a folder labeled with the date and nothing else.

I knew what was in it. The judge's order had been in the morning paper, and the Saturday lobby video had been shared forty thousand times.

I sat at the foot of the table with my lawyer on my right and Jonas behind me against the wall.

He had asked if he could come, and the chair had said yes.

Wyatt came in at noon exactly.

His lawyer walked behind him, carrying a thin case. Wyatt's suit was pressed and his tie was straight.

He looked the way he always looked, and it was hard to understand how.

Carissa came in last.

She wore the gray coat from the courthouse, and she took the chair against the wall where she had sat for the minutes.

She did not open a laptop.

The chair rapped the table once.

"This meeting is called to consider two matters," he said. "The merger, and a motion by a shareholder to remove the chief executive for cause."

Wyatt smiled at the delegation.

"My apologies for the family business. It will not affect the deal."

The woman at the center of the delegation turned a page in her folder.

"Mr. Haldorsen," she said, "we have read the court's order."

"A temporary matter."

"We have also seen the video of the lobby. And the one from the hospital."

"Those are being appealed."

"Our board met at seven this morning," she said. "We have one condition. We do not do business with a man who has done that."

The room was silent.

Wyatt's lawyer started to speak. The woman raised a hand without looking at him.

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