“Evidence,” I say. “Of a coordinated campaign to manufacture a crisis at Rossi Industries. A campaign designed to devalue this company, destabilize its leadership, and position it for acquisition by a private equity firm that Martin Hale has significant financial ties to.”
Martin’s face goes pale. Then red. “This is absurd. You’re deflecting from your own failures by making accusations.”
“Am I?” I gesture to Larissa. “Counselor, would you walk the board through the timeline?”
Larissa Koh rises, and when she speaks, her voice carries the kind of authority that always makes opposing counsels flinch. “The first document in your folders is email correspondence between Mr. Hale and Remy Durant, beginning approximately three months before the leak occurred.”
Board members flip pages.
“Mr. Hale cultivated a relationship with Mr. Durant over several weeks,” Larissa continues. “He expressed sympathy with Mr. Durant’s frustrations about executive compensation and the company’s direction. He encouraged Mr. Durant to take action. And he explicitly promised protection and career advancement if Mr. Durant would share certain internal documents.”
“This is fabricated,” Martin snarls.
“It’s recovered from the corporate email server,”Dashiell says calmly. “When you connect your personal email to corporate servers, you understand that corporate IT keeps everything, don’t you? Even emails that you delete?”
Martin’s face turns a bright red.
I watch the board members reading. Their expressions shift from confusion to disbelief to something colder. Betrayal hits differently when you realize you’ve been played.
“Page seven,” Larissa says, “shows Mr. Hale’s communications with Kieran Ashby at the business publication that ran the initial exposé. Mr. Hale provided anonymous quotes, suggested sources, and framed the narrative around ‘toxic culture’ and ‘questionable ethics.’ He was, in effect, the primary source for the story that damaged this company’s reputation.”
Helena looks up from her folder. Her gaze lands on Martin. “You fed them the story.”
“I provided context,” Martin blusters. “As a concerned board member worried about governance issues.”
“Context,” I repeat. “Let’s talk about the context on page twelve.”
Board members flip forward. I watch their faces as they find it.
“Emails between Mr. Hale and Pacific Horizon Partners,” Larissa announces. “A private equity firm specializing in healthcare acquisitions. These communications are dated three weeks before the slide deck leaked. They discuss potential acquisition terms, valuation targets, and a timeline for transitioning leadership.”
The silence in the room is absolute.
“You planned this,” Helena says quietly. “Before anything went wrong. You engineered a crisis specifically to drive down the company’s value so your PE friends could swoop in. And then you involved your sister to worsen that crisis, and further drive down our value.”
Martin’s composure finally cracks. “You don’t understand the pressures this company faces. The market conditions. Nico’s leadership has been erratic and his personal scandals have made institutional investors nervous. I was protecting shareholder value by exploring alternatives.”
“By manufacturing a crisis?” I keep my voice quiet. I don’t need to yell. The evidence is doing the work for me. “By manipulating a junior employee into destroying his own career? By feeding stories to journalists that were designed to burn down what I’ve spent years building?”
“The blackmail story was true,” Martin snaps. “Your own past caught up with you. And besides, Gabriella acted on her own. I had nothing to do with it.”
“Your sister acted one her own?” I ask rhetorically. “Who just happens to be a political operative with flexible ethics? Who sat on that story for years until the moment it could do maximum damage? Right when you were positioning for a board coup?”
I glance at Bree. She’s still standing where I left her, laptop clutched against her chest like a shield. But her eyes are focused intently on me, and shine with pride.
“The board should vote immediately on Mr. Hale’s continued membership,” Larissa recommends. “His actions constitute a clear breach of authority. We’re also considering legal action for corporate sabotage and tortious interference.”
“You can’t vote me off,” Martin says. His voice has lost its polish. “I’m a founding investor. I have rights.”
“You have the right to face consequences,” Helena replies. “I move to remove Martin Hale from the board of Rossi Industries, effective immediately, pending formal legal review of his conduct.”
“Seconded,” says another board member. An older man named Whitfield who’s been quiet until now.
The vote happens fast. Eleven to one. The single vote against comes from Martin himself... even his allies won’t touch him now. Self-preservation is a hell of a motivator.
Martin stands slowly, his face a mask of barely controlled fury. “You’ll regret this, Nico. All of you will. This company is going to crash and burn under his leadership, and when it does, remember that I tried to save it.”
I press the quick-dial button on the table’s conference phone.
