The door clicked shut behind him.

Daniel stood up and nodded to me.

“I will deliver these to the registrar,” he said.

“Thank you, Daniel,” I said.

“You made the right choice for your firm.”

“I made the only choice, Mrs. Whitaker,” he said.

He left the room, his footsteps fading down the hallway.

***

Monday morning was bright and cold.

The rain had cleared, leaving the streets of New York clean and wet.

I stood in the office on the forty-fifth floor of the Whitaker building.

The new signs had been installed over the weekend.

The bronze letters on the wall now read “Whitaker Holdings.”

Lena walked in carrying a steaming cup of coffee.

She set it on my desk, along with a thick leather binder.

“The market opened ten minutes ago,” she said.

“Our stock is up four percent.”

“The analysts are calling the restructuring a total recovery.”

“And the Mercer shares?” I asked.

“They have been fully absorbed,” Lena said.

“The board approved the new charter at eight o’clock.”

“Every hotel in the portfolio will be rebranded by the end of the quarter.”