Boardroom rules

Chapter Ten

Damien

Forbes broke it at 6:03 AM.

"BILLIONAIRE CEO MARRIES RIVAL ANALYST, HANDS HER HIS COMPANY"

"Inside The 13-Minute City Hall Wedding That Shook Wall Street"

By 6:04 AM, my phone was a bomb.

By 6:05 AM, Maya was awake.

"Is that my name?" she asked, voice rough from sleep.

"Yes." I handed her the tablet.

She read. Swore. Threw it.

"$500k blackmail to 'we got married' in twelve hours. Great."

I smiled. "I told you I'd give them a scandal."

"This isn't a scandal," she said, sitting up. My shirt again. "This is a war."

She was right.

8:00 AM. Hale Dynamics. Emergency Press Conference.

We walked in together.

Maya in black. Again. Armor. Tailored this time. Hair up. No wrinkle. No sign of Brooklyn.

I in navy. Chairman, not CEO.

The room was packed. Press. Analysts. Vance in the front row with a smile that wasn't a smile.

"Mr. Hale! Mrs. Hale!"

"Was this a hostile takeover?"

"Did you trade shares for s*x?"

Maya's jaw tightened.

I stepped to the mic first.

"No," I said.

Silence.

"We did not trade shares for s*x," I said. "We traded silence for a company."

Gasps.

Maya looked at me. What are you doing?

I kept going.

"Chen Analytics was 48 hours from bankruptcy," I said. "Hale Dynamics was 48 hours from destroying it. Instead, we merged. Legally. Publicly. Permanently."

"Why?" a reporter shouted. "Why her?"

I looked at Maya.

"Because she's better than me," I said. "At everything."

The room went quiet.

Because Damien Hale doesn't compliment.

He conquers.

Maya took the mic.

"I'm not a scandal," she said. "I'm the CEO. Ask me about the Q3 forecast. Ask me about the AI patent. Ask me anything except who I married."

A reporter stood. "Mrs. Hale, sources say the marriage was to block the board vote. Is that true?"

"Yes," she said.

The room exploded.

"Because the board wanted to fire my husband for loving me," she said. "So I became his wife, and his boss. Checkmate."

Vance stood. "This is illegal. This is—"

"It's called marriage, Mr. Vance," Maya said. "You should try it. Might soften you."

The press lost it.

Cameras. Flashes.

We walked out.

11:00 AM. My Office.

The door opened without a knock.

Legal. CFO. Security.

"Sir," Security said. "We have a problem."

The blackmailer.

They sent the photos.

Not to Forbes.

To Vance.

My desk screen lit up.

Us. On the desk. Last week. Tie on her wrist. Hair down. My shirt open.

Clear. HD.

"Where did they get this?" Maya whispered.

"Security footage," I said. "Someone on the inside."

Vance's email popped up.

Subject: Resign. Or I send this to every outlet.

Maya went pale.

I didn't.

I forwarded the email.

To who?

The FBI.

"Damien—"

"They committed a crime," I said. "Unlawful surveillance. Extortion."

"But the photos—"

"Are of my wife." I stood. "In my office. On my time."

I walked to Maya. Took her hands.

"If the world sees them," I said. "Then they see a man who loves his wife. I'm not ashamed."

Tears. In her eyes.

"I am," she whispered.

"Don't be." I kissed her knuckles. "You didn't do anything wrong."

My phone rang.

Unknown.

I answered. Speaker.

"Mr. Hale?" A voice. Masked. "You made a mistake."

"Did I?"

"Those photos go live in one hour unless you resign. And transfer the company to Mr. Vance."

Maya shook her head. No.

"One hour," the voice said. And hung up.

Maya looked at me. "Damien, we can't—"

"We can." I opened my laptop.

I typed one line.

Post it.

Send.

To every outlet.

To Twitter. To Forbes. To my own company site.

Maya's hand flew to her mouth.

"What did you do?"

"I beat them to it."

10 minutes later, the photos were everywhere.

#HaleChenDeskside

#TheyWereInLove

#NoRegrets

The comments?

"Power couple."

"He chose her over a billion."

"Marry me like that."

Vance called.

I didn't answer.

Maya stared at the screen. At us. At me, on top of her, tie loose, looking at her like she was the only thing in the world.

"They're not laughing," she said.

"No," I said. "They're rooting for us."

She turned to me.

"You'd really lose everything for this?"

"I already did," I said. "And I'd do it again."

The FBI called back at 12:03 PM.

They had Vance.

Extortion. Wire fraud. Illegal surveillance.

It was over.

Maya sat down. Hard.

"We won," she said.

"We did." I pulled her to me. "By not hiding."

She buried her face in my chest.

"I hate you," she said. Into my shirt.

"I know." I held her tighter. "I love you too."

The press kept flashing outside.

The board was in jail.

And we were still standing.

Rule #10 of the boardroom: Never let them see you bleed.

We bled in public.

And won anyway.