Lauren nodded slowly.
“That is fair,” she said, standing.
She told him he was now completely free to pursue that exciting life.
Jonathan looked briefly hopeful.
“Just not in my company,” she added.
She slid a final envelope across the table toward him.
Inside was a notice from the newly formed board of directors of Brooks Logistics. Lauren explained that as majority owner, she had called an emergency meeting that afternoon.
The envelope contained an official termination letter.
Jonathan read it with shaking hands.
“You fired me,” he whispered.
She confirmed that she had.
Patricia accused her of destroying her own husband.
Lauren looked at her mother-in-law with complete calm.
“He destroyed himself,” she said.
Vanessa stepped slightly back from Jonathan, as if she was seeing him for the first time without the version of himself he had presented to her. She reminded him that he had told her he was the CEO.
He said nothing.
Because he was no longer anything of the kind.
The Door and What Came After
Lauren picked up the champagne bottle she had carried through the door an hour earlier.
She walked toward the exit and paused before opening it.
She said his name.
Jonathan looked up from the couch, pale and still.
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