The emergency meeting started before sunrise.
Nobody wanted to wait.
By six-thirty, the executive conference room was full.
Investors.
Department heads.
Legal advisors.
Operations managers.
People who normally stayed calm were already talking over each other.
The news had spread faster than Elena expected.
Forty-nine percent.
The number was everywhere.
No official statement had been released.
No court ruling existed.
No ownership change had happened.
But the number had escaped.
And once it did, there was no pulling it back.
Elena sat at the head of the table while voices bounced around the room.
"This could freeze every expansion contract."
"What happens if they file for injunctions?"
"Can they stop corridor development?"
"Do carriers know yet?"
Alexander sat beside her with a stack of reports.
He had slept less than anyone.
The dark circles under his eyes made that obvious.
Yet his voice remained steady.
"Nothing has changed legally."
A few people laughed.
