The board meeting lasted four hours and eleven minutes.
Kendrick had gone in prepared.
He'd spent the three days since Saturday mapping every scenario — the arguments the board would make, the conditions they'd propose, the specific pressure points Richard's positioning had created over the past weeks. Daniel had run three rehearsal sessions. Alehandra had sent notes. Marcus had, unexpectedly, texted at seven in the morning with a single message: *I abstained last time. I won't this time.*
He'd gone in with everything he had.
He'd won.
Barely.
Conditionally.
