“Emeka Okonjo was offered a financial contract.” The reporters erupted; she raised a hand.

“If you want the truth, you’re going to listen to the whole story.” And she told it — the wrong number on a cold night, the empty hospital room, the fear, the partner who left, the pressure from her board.

“I needed someone beside me whose loyalty wasn’t tied to my last name,” she said.

“Money was part of our agreement.

I’ve never denied that.

But what was not written into any contract was that he would come running every time my fever spiked at three in the morning.”