I stood up. I didn’t rush. I smoothed the front of my blazer the way my husband used to smooth his tie before a hard conversation. “Brent,” I said, “can you read me the resolution the board passed?” He blinked. He hadn’t expected questions. He fumbled with his phone and read aloud: ‘The board has voted to remove Margaret Halverson from the position of CFO, effective immediately, citing loss of confidence.’ He grinned again at the word immediately. I nodded. I asked him, gently, who exactly had voted. He listed four names. Four out of seven. I let the silence sit for a beat. Then I said, “Brent, sweetheart. Did anyone show you the trust documents before you walked over here?” His grin slipped a quarter inch. I opened my desk drawer and pulled out a navy leather folder. I’d kept it there for nineteen years, ever since Daniel died. “When my husband passed,” I said, loud enough for the bullpen, “his shares didn’t transfer to the company. They transferred to the Halverson Family Trust. I’m the sole trustee. Which means, legally, I control fifty-one percent of the voting stock. The board can vote on whatever it likes. The board can’t remove me.” Brent’s mouth opened. Nothing came out. I slid the folder across the desk toward him. “What the board can do,” I continued, “is be dissolved by majority shareholder action. Which I’m doing. Right now. Linda,” I called to my assistant, who was already standing, already smiling, already holding the printed letters I’d asked her to prepare three weeks ago when I first noticed the lunches and the whispers, “please distribute these.” Termination letters. Four of them. Plus one for Brent. He read his and his hand started to shake. “Aunt Maggie, please, I have a mortgage, I have—” “You had eight months,” I said quietly, “to learn the business. You spent them learning my schedule.” I picked up my coffee. I walked to the head of the bullpen. Forty years of mediocrity, he’d said. I turned back. “Pack your little cardboard box, Brent. Try not to drip sweat on the carpet. It’s older than you, and it’s earned its place here.”
