Twice.
The color drained from his face.
“What is this?” he asked, voice rough.
I kept my voice calm.
You could feel the air leave the room.
He laughed once, this ugly, nervous sound.
“This is some kind of joke, right?” he said. “Claire, come on.”
“No joke,” I said. “The board voted this morning.
You’d know that if you went to your afternoon meeting instead of… whatever you were doing.”
I glanced at Emily.
One of his coworkers, Mark, stepped closer, squinting at the letter.
“Uh,” Mark said, “that’s… the real letterhead, man.”
“Termination for cause,” I continued, quoting. “Performance issues. Inappropriate relationships with subordinates.
Breach of the company’s ethics policy.”
A murmur rolled through the guests.
“Funny thing,” I added, “bringing your girlfriend to a party full of colleagues. Especially when some of them were in the room when the board discussed your relationship with her.”
Emily went white.
“Wait,” she said. “You told me… you said our relationship was totally fine—”
“Shut up,” Ryan hissed at her, then looked back at me.
“How do you even have this?”
“Because,” I said, “I’m one of the investors who owns your company now. We closed months ago. I’m not your little plus-one anymore, Ryan.
I’m one of your bosses.”
That one landed.
Hard.
His boss, Alan, cleared his throat.
“She’s not wrong,” he said quietly. “You’ve known there were… concerns.”
“Alan,” Ryan snapped. “You can’t be serious.”
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