>>>TOM
Tom sat at the head of the conference table, his eyes scanning the faces of his board members. The familiarity of the room felt strange after months away, like putting on an old suit that no longer quite fit. His mind kept drifting back to Emma, to their argument, to the hurt in her eyes when he'd left this morning.
"Mr. Hawthorne?" A voice cut through his reverie. "Your thoughts on the matter?"
Tom blinked, forcing himself to focus. "I'm sorry, could you repeat the question?"
His CFO, Sarah, gave him a concerned look before continuing. "We were discussing the recent trend of employees leaving for MK Industries. It's becoming a significant problem, especially in our R&D department."
MK Industries. The name tugged at something in Tom's memory, but he couldn't quite plac
