Chapter 4 - The Corporate Reckoning
Three days later, the board of directors at Hayes Vision held an emergency closed-door meeting on the forty-fifth floor of their glass tower in Midtown.
It wasn't a meeting to discuss expansion or new product lines. It was a tribunal.
Julian didn't even attend in person; he sent his top corporate restructuring attorney along with a team of financial auditors. But he didn't need to be there for the impact to be felt. By noon, the board had voted unanimously to strip Liam Hayes of his executive voting rights, citing severe financial mismanagement, reckless asset allocation, and catastrophic reputational damage following the Plaza Hotel scandal.
Around 3:00 PM, Liam’s executive assistant—a young woman he had hired to replace me, whom he had treated with the same dismissive arrogance—called my private cell phone.
"Mrs. Bennett—uh, Ms. Bennett," she stammered nervously. "Mr. Hayes is clearing out his office. He left a box of your personal belongings here from when you used to work on the startup accounts. He said... he said he wants you to have them."
I paused, looking out over the panoramic view of the Hudson River from Julian’s living room. "Throw them in the trash," I said coldly. "There is nothing left of that past worth saving."
By evening, the media reports had evolved from business news to full-blown tabloid tragedy. Articles titled “The Rise and Fall of Liam Hayes: How a Glass Shattered a Tech Empire” dominated the internet. Photos of Liam walking out of his office building carrying a single cardboard box while reporters hounded him filled every news feed.
Chloe Monroe had already released a public statement through her agent denying any romantic involvement and claiming she was "merely an acquaintance caught in a toxic corporate crossfire."
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Liam was completely, utterly alone.
He had tried to trade his life partner for a reflection in a mirror, and when the mirror cracked, he found there was nothing behind it at all.
