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Glen stands, placing his fingertips against the polished wood.
“The evidence doesn’t lie,” Glen says, angrily.
“The shareholders are going to hear about this.” He pushes his chair back so hard that it hits the wall behind him. Several of the Board members shift in their chairs, presumably getting ready to either move out of the way, or to block him from leaving.
“Asa,” Glen says, calmly, “they already have.”
“I won’t stand for this!” Asa bellows, his face red with anger. “The deal is off!” He slices a hand through the air.
“You’re right,” I interrupt, placing my hands on the table in front of me. “The dealisoff.”
Asa looks at me, clearly confused. “You don’t get to decide. You have no authority here!” he spits.
“Youwouldbe right about that, except I’ve already contacted your shareholders, and by proxy, Zentech now owns the majority stock of Waterman’s. And I’m afraid there aremanagementchanges.” I smile wickedly, only because I can’t help but love seeing a man like Waterman being taken down. I don’t relish the fact that his company was taken right out from under him, because it’s not just him that is losing a job; unfortunately, others will too. That was always a fact.
“They wouldn’t do that,” he says, disbelievingly. “That’s illegal!” He looks to Lewis for confirmation, but gets none.
Lewis stands, looking at me before addressing Asa. “I assure you, it’s completely legal.”
“You bitch!” Asa yells as he starts to round the table, but Lewis cuts him off. For a moment I’m afraid he’ll crawl over the table to get to me, but when the other Board members stand, Asa gathers control of himself.
“I think you need to leave.” Glen holds the door open, where two security guards are waiting by the entrance. We knew Asa wouldn’t take it well and had taken precautions in case something like this happened.
“I will see you in court!” Asa threatens, shaking off one of the security guards as they try to escort him out of the room.
Watching through the glass doors as he leaves, I steady my legs by gripping onto the back of the chair. Employees poke their heads over the cubicle walls to see what the commotion is about. Glen has already crafted an email to send out about recent events, wanting to get ahead of any rumors or falsifications filed by Waterman. This isn’t over, and we both know it.
Lewis looks across the table at me with sympathetic eyes, and I nod letting him know I’m alright. Inside, my nerves are at war with my pride because I don’t want to let a man like Asa rattle me, but I am human.
After giving Lewis a thankful smile, he takes a seat adjusting his tie.
“Lake,” Glen reaches over and touches my shoulder. “You did what you had to do,” he reassures me.
None of us wanted it to come to this, least of all Glen, but in the end, he got what he wanted. Nodding, I take my seat, glad for the reprieve. There were many ways to go about handling Waterman’s deliberate falsifications, but only one I knew I would enjoy.
* * *
Glen’s officeis just down the hall from the board room, behind wooden double doors. His secretary, Doris, who has been here longer than me, guards his office. Her large, horn-rimmed glasses make her look less than intimidating, but the steely eyes behind them could stop any man in their tracks.
Momentarily, she looks up from her computer as I enter.
“Today is your lucky day, Doris,” I smile at her cryptically.
“Take a seat. He’ll be with you in a minute,” she says, not looking back up at me as I saunter over to the couch opposite her desk.
Before I can even sit down, Glen pops his head from behind the door. “I’ve been calling your line,” Glen says, clearly annoyed.
Doris doesn’t look over at him when she says, “I’ve been busy.”
Glen sighs in frustration when he notices me standing in the middle of the waiting area, and then a smile spreads on his face. “Lake, come in.” He waves me through.
Shutting the door behind me, I take a seat in front of his large old school desk.
“I finished the proposal and wanted to review it with you before we bring it to the Board for a vote.” I slide the stack of documents towards him. “The summary is on top, but if you flip to the next page, you’ll see the recommendations for reduction of the department heads,” I explain, watching nervously as Glen puts his glasses on to look through the papers. His finger stops on one particular spot, and then he looks across the desk at me, lowering his glasses.
“Lake?” he questions me, looking back at the paper as if there must be some mistake. “You can’t,” he doesn’t finish his sentence.
Standing up, I reach across the table to shake his hand. “It has been a pleasure,” I say, feeling a lump form in my throat.
