The Boardroom War

Evan Carter - First Person

Lord, help me! My legs ache. Doesn't this man know I have legs? I need a chair.

I stretched my legs but he didn't notice. Why should he?

I stood in front of the executive boardroom, holding a tablet and a dilemma in my chest.

I had just destroyed a three hundred million dollar deal in front of everyone in the room.

And now the CEO of this firm had decided that I needed to be brought in front of the people who funded this entire firm.

So much for blabbering. Why me?

It was a tense time in this hallway.

Everyone knew I had gone into a meeting with some of the best strategists in this firm and ruined their merger.

And now I was being brought in front of everyone in this firm.

The new analyst humiliates everyone in a meeting, and the CEO drags him in front of an investor meeting.

Classic.

Just another day in the life of a man who had worked in this firm for less than three hours.

And then suddenly, the doors to the boardroom swung open.

Adrian Wolfe stood in front of me.

He had taken off his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves halfway up his forearms as he studied a document on his phone screen. He was a man who had already made up his mind how the next hour would go and didn’t care who disagreed with him.

He stopped when he saw me. “Did you revise the model?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Stress-tested it?”

“Of course.”

“Three times?”

I was quick. “Four.”

He finally looked up.

He didn’t say anything for a moment, and the moment felt like it took longer than it actually did.

He nodded once. “Good.”

That was it. No praise. No criticism.

Just approval. For a fraction of a second.

He turned and walked past me to the boardroom and pushed the doors open. “Come on, Carter.”

I followed him into the boardroom.

The boardroom at Wolfe Capital was huge, and the whole back wall was glass with a view of the city skyline.

There was a long black table down the center of the room with enough chairs for thirty executives.

Most of the chairs were already filled with investors, board members, lawyers and people who probably spent more on their suits than I spent on groceries.

They stopped talking when Adrian came into the room.

They stopped talking when they saw me behind him.

Adrian didn’t notice any of the stares or me.

He took the seat at the head of the table, and didn't introduce me, nor say a word.

He just sat back and looked around the room.

“Let’s start.”

One of the board members cleared his throat.

“Adrian, before we start, we should probably wait for—”

The doors to the boardroom opened.

Every single person turned to look.

A woman came into the room like she owned the place. She was tall. Elegant, model height and had a perfect posture.

Her dark dress was simple.

But the diamonds on her wrist sparkled in the light from the windows.

Three people stood up when they saw her.

The room changed. Power had arrived.

She walked directly to Adrian.

“Sorry I’m late,” she said with a smooth tone. “Traffic.”

Adrian did not stand or smile. He barely looked at her.

“You’re on time,” he said with a flat tone.

Her eyes scanned the room and then landed on me.

I felt it. It was sharp, curious, and evaluating like she was dissecting me from every point.

“And who is this?” she asked.

No one answered.

Adrian tapped his fingers once on the table.

“My company's junior analyst.”

Her eyebrow went up. “A junior analyst at an investor board meeting?”

The room became quiet with interest.

Adrian remained impassive. “He’s presenting.”

Several members of the board exchanged glances.

The woman turned to me. Fully.

She was even more intimidating up close. “I don’t believe we’ve met.”

“Evan Carter.”

She extended her hand. “Lydia Harrington.”

Several members of the room were paying attention.

Everyone knew that name. Harrington Global.

One of the largest corporate empires in the country.

And the corporation that had been a part of the merger I had just ruined.

Her hand was cool and controlled as we shook.

Then she let go of mine and turned to Adrian.

“Interesting choice.”

Adrian began to spin a pen between his fingers.

“You’ll see why.”

She smiled. “I hope so.”

The tension at the table grew.

Finally, the meeting began.

Financial reports flashed on the screen. Market projections were discussed by the advisors.

Lawyers talked about the contracts.

The original merger plan came up after ten minutes.

Everyone knew Adrian would approve it.

Instead, he nodded at me. “Carter.”

Twenty heads turned towards me.

My heart skipped a beat, but I stood up and walked over to the screen anyway.

I plugged in my tablet and opened the new version of the financial model.

The original projection was displayed first. Several investors nodded at the familiar numbers.

Then I opened the new version.

The profit margins disappeared instantly. The murmurs ran around the table.

An investor leaned forward in his seat. “What is this?”

I replied calmly. “The realistic outcome of the acquisition.”

A board member frowned at the screen. “The growth projections are incorrect.”

“They were,” I replied.

I clicked the screen and opened the infrastructure analysis. “The tech company does not have the operational capacity to manage the growth projected in the merger model. Even with increased investment, the system would fail within twelve months.”

The room was silent now and more numbers flashed on the screen. The losses projected.

Three hundred million the first year alone.

An investor muttered an oath under his breath.

Another investor turned sharply to Adrian. “Is this correct?”

Adrian did not reply.

He was looking at Lydia.

Everyone else slowly turned to look at her too.

Because Harrington Global was the company being acquired.

And the numbers displayed meant only one thing.

The acquisition would destroy her company.

She studied the numbers displayed on the screen.

Her expression did not change.

Finally, she leaned back in her seat.

“Well,” she said coolly, “that’s inconvenient.”

Several nervous laughs broke out around the table.

Then Lydia turned to look at Adrian. “You knew about this?”

Adrian leaned back in his seat and rested his chin on his hands. “I suspected.”

“And you waited until now to tell everyone?”

His tone was subdued. “Yes.”

She looked at him for a moment. Then back at me. “You’re the one who found the flaw?”

“Yes, ma'am.”

Her lips curled into a small smile. “Impressive, I must say.”

A member of the board interrupted quickly. “This changes everything. If these numbers are correct, the merger can’t go forward.”

Another investor nodded. “We’ll lose too much capital.”

The room erupted into rapid discussion. The contracts were questioned.

Legal specialists were whispering to each other.

In five minutes’ time, the deal was disintegrating before the eyes of everyone.

Lydia watched the whole thing transpire without a single reaction.

Then turned back to Adrian.

“So,” she said with a carefree tone, “it seems our engagement has just lost half its strategic value.”

No one moved.

Adrian shrugged. “Looks that way.”

Her eyes narrowed. “That doesn’t concern you?”

“Not particularly.”

Several investors looked at him incredulously.

Lydia leaned forward. “You seem to be accepting the dissolution of a deal your board worked for six months to negotiate.”

Adrian leaned back into his seat.“The deal was flawed.”

“And our engagement?”

Silence fell across the entire room.

Adrian looked at her without flinching. “That was business.”

Her smile faltered. “And the analyst?”

His eyes flickered to me for a moment. “He’s good at what he does.”

The room felt heavy

.

Lydia looked between the two of us.

Then got to her feet.

The sound of her chair scraping across the floor echoed through the room.

“Well,” she said smoothly, “if the numbers are correct, then perhaps Harrington Global should reconsider their position.”

She adjusted the sleeve of her dress.

“Adrian, walk me out.”

He didn’t argue. He stood up and followed her towards the doors.

They stopped just outside the boardroom.

Their voices were quiet but the glass walls carried sound to where I was.

Lydia spoke first. “You’re ending the deal.”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“Will it affect our engagement?”

A brief pause. “You keep asking that. Are you that desperate?”

Ouch. Lady, find yourself another man. He's not into you. You're pretty though.

She laughed softly. “You always did hate being predictable.”

Then her voice dropped to a whisper. “But be careful, Adrian.”

“I'll advise you to think twice before you threaten me.”

My stomach constricted as Lydia turned back to look through the glass wall.

Her eyes flickered to mine for a moment.

Then she smiled faintly. “This just became much more interesting.”

She turned back to the elevators.

Adrian remained standing in the hallway for a moment.

Then he turned back into the boardroom.

The investors began talking again asking questions, legal strategy and damage control.

Adrian ignored them all, walking towards me.

And stopped near me.

I had to tilt my head back to see him.

The world around us became background noise.

“You handled yourself well,” he said softly.

This was the first time he had given me a genuine compliment.

I had no idea what to say.

He looked at me for a moment.

Then his phone vibrated.

He looked at the screen and his face changed.

“What happened?” I asked.

He didn’t answer. He just showed me the screen and….I felt my heart sink.

Because the headline was already appearing on every financial screen.

WOLFE CAPITAL CEO'S SECRET ANALYST DESTROYS HARRINGTON MERGER DURING BOARD MEETING

This is bad. Oh God. Not now.

I slowly looked up. “Someone leaked it.”

Adrian’s face was stern. “Certainly.”

The room around us was suddenly full of activity as investors began checking their phones.

It was spreading fast.

Because the news was already public. Which meant that the stock market would soon know what had just transpired.

Adrian looked at me with an intense expression. His voice was lower. “There were only fifteen people in that room.”

My heart began to beat fast. “And now the entire market knows what happened.”

Adrian stuck his phone back in his pocket.

Then said something that made me feel like things were only getting worse. “You and I just became the focal point of a corporate battle.”

Before I could say anything, the doors to the boardroom swung open.

One of the executives rushed inside. “Adrian—”

Adrian didn’t move. “What?”

The man swallowed hard. “Harrington Global just filed an emergency lawsuit against Wolfe Capital.”

The room was dead silent.

“For what?”

The man looked directly at me. “Corporate sabotage.”

My heart sank.

And then there was the calm face of Adrian Wolfe.