The chairman finds his voice first. “Gregory, this is unexpected.”
“Is it? You were going to force me out anyway. I’m just doing it on my terms.”
The meeting dissolves into logistics. Who takes over as CEO. Timeline for the transition. Legal frameworks for the cleanup fund.
When we finally adjourn, board member Derek Haliburton corners me in the hallway. My former protégé. The one who leaked those documents and sold me out to a competitor for cash.
“You’re letting me stay on the board?” he asks, sounding confused more than anything else.
I shrug. “I don’t give a shit about what happens to you anymore.”
I start to walk past him but then he speaks again.
“You’re throwing away everything you built, you know that right?” he presses.
I turn to look at him and immediately see the ambition in him that used to rule my younger self. The insatiable hunger that consumed everything.
“No,” I say quietly. “I’m finally building something that matters.”
He curls his lips in disgust. “This is aboutthat girl, isn’t it? The one you were trapped with?”
“Her name is Sorrel. And yes, she showed me what I’d become. And what I could be instead.” I step closer. “You sold me out to a competitor. For money and power and all the things I taught you to value above everything else. So congratulations, Derek. You learned from the best. You became exactly who I was.”
I walk away before he can respond.
Outside the building, I pull out my phone. Sorrel’s face appears. Tears are streaming down her cheeks.
“You heard?” I ask.
“I heard. Gregory, I’m so proud of you.”
Something tight in my chest loosens. “I couldn’t have done it without you. You showed me what healing looks like.”
She laughs through the tears. “Mycorrhizal networks, remember? We’re stronger connected.”
I can’t help but smile. “Yes. Mycorrhizal networks.”
She pauses. “That two billion dollars. From your own money... not the company’s.”
I’d left that small detail out when I sent the proposal her way.
But she knows, now.
“It’s my mess to clean up. Literally.”
“Gregory.” Her voice breaks. “Do you have any idea what you’re sacrificing?”
“I know the number in my bank account is going to look a whole lot smaller. I also know that Brazilians have been drinking poisoned water because of decisions I made. So yeah. I know exactly what I’m doing.”
She’s crying again, and I can hear her trying to muffle it, though it’s pretty hard to mask tears on a video call. “You’re a good man.”
“I’m not. But I’m trying to be.” My throat tightens. “When can I see you? In person.”
She wipes away the tears, checks her calendar. “I have lab work through next week, but... come anyway? I’ll make you coffee.”
I grin. “I’ll be there tomorrow.”
The next morning,Marcel drops me off at the University of Colorado Boulder campus. I’m carrying two coffees from herfavorite shop she told me about during one of our chats. I called ahead, got her usual.
