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A worried murmur broke out in the group.
“The fact is, I’m worried that she’ll do something terrible if there’s another misstep. That’s why I’m here, actually.”
Mimi arched her eyebrow. “Please explain.”
“I had a conversation with one of my overseas partners. They claimed someone on this board has been attempting to upset the sale to Jiàn Innovations by preemptively leaking news of the takeover.”
Everyone started talking at once.
“Are you accusing us of corporate sabotage?” Allen Trade asked, his voice rising above the din.
“I am accusing someone on this board of trying to throw the sale. And I need to know who it was, and I need them to stop—before this has dire consequences for Lauren and her family.”
I stood up. “We need to handle this today. I’d like to speak to each one of you privately in Lauren’s office. Come down in whatever order you like, when you’re ready.”
I doubted that any one of them would confess to me early this sunny morning, but I hoped to at least glean more information from this process. I’d reviewed the contracts between Paragon, Dynamica, and our international distribution partners. I’d also asked Kami to do the same. She’d called me this morning to confirm what I’d suspected: our third-party distributors couldn’t unilaterally withdraw from the contracts if Paragon was sold. They could, however, refuse to renew their contracts after a year-long trial period with the new partner.
I paced back and forth in Lauren’s office, waiting for someone to come down. The person who leaked the information had most likely known this as well. They were attempting to start rumblings within the network. If our United Kingdom, Australian, and Belgian distributors decided that a partnership with the Chinese was undesirable, they could scare the other distributors, creating mass panic. Collectively, they could agree to boycott Jiàn Innovations in the future, ultimately sabotaging the sale and forcing our hand. If Li Na became aware of this situation before the closing, Paragon would seem a less lucrative venture, one which she might choose to let go.
Which would be fine, if she wasn’t holding Hannah hostage.
Whoever had leaked the information had breached the board’s confidentiality and violated their relationship with Lauren, with potentially devastating implications. It was a reckless move, one they were going to have to pay for.
Stephanie buzzed in a minute later. “Allen Trade is ready for you.”
Allen, a former NASA advisor, looked seriously pissed beneath his immaculate white hair. “That was quite a spectacle you just put on, in a long line of recent spectacles.”
“I didn’t do it for the entertainment value.”
“You have a lot of nerve riling us all up like this at such a crucial time. People are upset, Gabe. We all love Hannah, and we love Lauren too. No one wants to see their family hurting like this. And the fact that we’re about to lose the company? It’s terrible. Disgusting. But you have no right to come in here and treat us like a bunch of criminals.”
“Are you finished?”
After a moment, Allen nodded. “Yes.”
“Then sit down. Please.” I started pacing again, channeling Lauren. “One of my partners called to tell me they knew a Chinese buyer was about to take over Paragon. They already wanted out of their contract, and several other distributors have followed suit. When I pressed her, she told me that a board member was the source of the information. How do you think that made me feel?”
Allen looked beside himself. “Who cares about you? How did Lauren feel? On top of everything else, she has to worry about…”
“Lauren is upset, but Lauren has bigger things to deal with. Lauren had to watch her sister get dragged away at gunpoint yesterday, so I figured I’d spare her this debacle.” I ran my hands through my hair, feeling a headache coming on. “Jesus. The last thing she needs right now is to have someone she trusts working against her. She’s dealing with too much already.”
“If it’s any comfort, it wasn’t me. But I will get to the bottom of this, I swear. We don’t want to lose the patch, but nothing is more important than family.”
“Why should I trust you?”
Allen shrugged. “You don’t have to trust me. You just have to let me find out who did this. You can trust me afterwards.”
My phone buzzed, and I quickly read the text that came in—a text that made my heart drop. No no no.
“What’s the matter?”
“It’s my friend the neurosurgeon—about Wesley, the security guard who was shot. He’s not doing well.” I looked up at Allen. “Can we get back to this later?”
“Of course. I’ll get you some answers. Please tell Lauren that we’re all rooting for her. And poor Wesley too. Jesus,” he muttered as he left the room. “That Zhao woman has a lot to answer for.”
Chapter 18
Lauren
