“Clara, are you prepared for what comes next?” he asked.

“I am,” I said.

“This will affect your personal finances as well,” Evelyn pointed out.

“His assets will be frozen, and the fallout will be public.”

“I know,” I said. “But my integrity is not for sale.”

Arthur nodded, a look of deep respect in his eyes.

“We must protect the firm first,” Arthur said to Marcus and Evelyn.

“We cannot allow him to retain any leverage.”

“If we terminate him for cause, we can nullify his severance package,” Marcus said.

“And his stock options,” Evelyn added. “The clause in his contract regarding moral turpitude and financial fraud is very clear.”

“Yes,” Arthur said. “We must strip him of everything.”

They began to discuss the legal mechanisms.

I listened as they dismantled his professional life piece by piece.

The stock options he had bragged about for years.

The golden parachute he thought would always protect him.

All of it was slipping away.

The rain outside continued to pelt the glass, a relentless grey curtain.

“We will draft the resolution immediately,” Arthur said.