By noon, the King Enterprises board meeting had been going on for three hours.

Reporters were gathered outside the Manhattan headquarters, their cameras flashing every time a black town car pulled up to the curb.

Clara turned on the television in our conference room.

A young reporter in a trench coat was speaking into a microphone.

“We are hearing reports that Daniel Carter, the Chief Operating Officer of King Enterprises, has been asked to leave the building,” she said. “Federal investigators are rumored to be on their way to the offices now.”

On the screen, the glass doors of the King building opened.

Daniel emerged, surrounded by two security guards.

He didn’t have his coat.

He held a cardboard box of personal belongings in his arms.

His face was pale, his eyes fixed on the pavement as the cameras crowded around him.

“He’s done,” Marcus said from the doorway. “The board just suspended his voting rights.”

“And Elias?” I asked.

“The board is still behind closed doors,” Marcus said. “But the stock is down twelve percent.”

My phone buzzed on the table.