Lucien Vale
The board meeting was a slaughterhouse.
I sat at the head of the conference table in the Vale Corporation tower, forty stories above the city, and watched twelve men in thousand-dollar suits take turns carving pieces out of my reputation. The room smelled like fear and expensive cologne. No one made eye contact. Not even the ones who'd known me since I was a child.
"The sponsorship loss is catastrophic, Lucien." Richard Cole, the oldest board member, slid a folder across the polished mahogany. His hands were shaking. "Three major brands terminated this morning. Two more are reviewing their contracts. The drug allegations —"
"Are false," I said, my voice flat as a frozen lake.
"The public doesn't know that." Marcus Hale, the CFO, leaned forward, his forehead glistening. "Th
