Page 132 of Ten Day Affair

"I'm clarifying the facts. The personal relationship had nothing to do with my vote. Dr. Taylor knew nothing about King's Holdings. If you want my admission on the record, her name or any reference to an affair stays out of it."

She took it. The admission that my position on the board had been orchestrated after the debt purchase and before the vote is printed in black and white. It's the cost I paid, and keeping Sam out of it makes it worth it.

I’ll recover. Most people have the attention span of a gnat. I know some other scandal will come next week, and the world will move on.

My phone buzzes. It's a text from the general counsel.

We need to discuss next steps. Resignation might be extreme, but something you might want to consider.

I don’t hesitate. I already made my choice when I gave Laurel the quote.

I open my laptop, click into the Kings Holdings board portal, and pull up the resignation template.

Name.

Title.

Date.

Reason:Conflict of interest due to personal and professional entanglements.

I hit send.

Done.

The power of the acquisitions arm of my company that I spent a decade building is gone after one article.

But for the first time in a long time, it feels like I did the right thing. Not for the business. Not for optics.

For her.

The flight attendant's hand touches my shoulder. I look up from the screen.

"Mr. Houston? You have a call from Mr. Grimes. Should I patch it through?"

Here we go.

"Put it through."

The line crackles to life, and Dorian's voice cuts through the cabin noise like a blade.

"You gave her a quote? Are you trying to kill this company?"

I lean back in the leather seat, watching clouds drift past the window. My voice comes out steady.

"I said what needed to be said. It was going to run regardless. I wanted to get in front of it with facts, not conjecture that becomes facts in the minds of the public."

"Do you know how many millions you just jeopardized? The Meridian deal is dead now for sure, if it wasn't already. Now you're the poster boy for unethical boardroom backdoor deals."

He's not wrong.

"The deal's still salvageable. I'm out, but I have a few irons in the fire for you guys."

"Salvageable?" Dorian's laugh holds no humor. "Cole,you admitted to a conflict of interest in print. In the Palm Beach Post."

"Dorian, she had all of this already. Transparency is king."

Silence stretches across the connection. When Dorian speaks again, his tone shifts to the one he uses when calculating losses.