The affair was his betrayal of me, and it was mine to grieve in private.

The fraud was his betrayal of eight hundred employees, and that was what belonged on the screen.

Keeping those two things separate was the most powerful thing I did all night, and almost no one in that room understood that it was a choice.

Chapter 11 — Governance Control

Thurston stepped back to the microphone and announced that Solstice’s purchase agreement granted immediate governance control and full authority to protect the company’s assets.

The board had accepted the restructuring plan unanimously that afternoon, before the party, before any of this.