She heard Rowan's voice before she reached the door.
The board session was at fourteen, and she had come from the lift on the same floor and was still twenty feet from room four when she caught the sound of it through the slightly open door, low, controlled, carrying the particular register of a man who was not arguing because the matter was already settled.
She stopped. Listened.
"… motion is noted and rejected." Clear. Final.
"Rowan, you can't simply dismiss three legal precedents…" The Head of Legal. "The framework for conflict of interest is…"
"Applicable when the person in question has decision-making power. My wife has none. She has observer status. Non-voting. No operational authority, no access to proprietary commercial negotiations, no influence over any outcome this board ha
