The conference room on Monday morning felt different.
Colder, maybe. Or just heavier with tension.
Ethan sat at the table, surrounded by papers. Financial records. Transaction logs. Emails. Contracts. Everything related to the Quantum Solutions deal spread out in front of him like evidence at a crime scene.
Which, in a way, it was.
Across from him, Richard Steele was on his phone, talking to someone from the legal team. His voice was clipped, professional. Next to Richard sat two lawyers, both of them reviewing documents with the kind of focused intensity that came from knowing how high the stakes were.
Alex stood near the window, arms crossed, watching the city below. He'd been there since six that morning, and it was barely nine now. None of them had slept much.
Seventy-two hours.
That's what they had to prove Ethan's innocence. Or at least create enough reasonable doubt that the board wouldn't force him out.
Thirty-six hours had already passed.
