The tenth-floor boardroom, known as the "Council Chamber," was a low, rectangular, windowless space where the air was filtered and recycled to sterility. A long polished ebony table, like a lake of obsidian, dominated the room. Around it, twelve black leather chairs, each more imposing than the last. At the head, the chairman's seat, empty. To its right, Calleb. To its left, the CFO, a man with thin-rimmed glasses and a button mouth.Lara was seated in an additional chair placed against the wall, next to a legal department intern typing frantically on a laptop. She was not a participant. She was a "resource," a "technical presence" from the Marketing department, there to provide specific data if requested. Her dark gray blazer and black skirt were armor. Beneath the high satin collar of her blouse, the thin platinum chain of the necklace was a constant line of cold against her skin, a screaming secret amidst the formality.The black diamond weighed. Not physically, but psychologically
Read more