CHAPTER 5Levi
Levi
The walk towards the executive conference room felt like a death march.
Coming into work used to be exciting; something he was passionate about.
Now it weighed him down, having turned into a chore and a burden…
and Levi was about to face one of the key reasons for it head-on.
He and Isaac stepped through the door to the conference room, bracing themselves for a battle they knew was looming on the horizon.
Located in a secluded corner on the same level as his office, the room was large and spacious. It was full of contradictions, managing to feel both vast and intimate all at once. Two walls were encased in sleek glass panels that gave a beautiful, picturesque view of Joia City.
The skyline shimmered under the morning sky, a breathtaking contrast to the gravity of the discussions that would be taking place shortly within this room. The beauty beyond the windows was ignored by most of the occupants as they entered, an unspoken heaviness settling over the space.
Levi strode over to his seat at the head of the long, meticulously polished white oak table, positioned near the windows to capitalize on the daylight pouring in.
The table itself was a statement—an expanse of wood capable of seating a dozen decision-makers with the possibility to accommodate another ten more if needed.
As he passed, he offered curt nods to members of the Board, his presence commanding silent tribute. Behind him, Isaac followed, seamlessly taking his place to Levi’s right, a quiet testament to their alliance.
One of the solid walls was dominated by a state-of-the-art screen panel, its surface already queued with a presentation, waiting for the deliberations to begin.
Along the adjacent wall, steaming carafes of coffee and assorted continental breakfast items were carefully arranged on the buffet counter.
Members of the Board were hovering over the selection of buttery croissants, neatly sliced fruit, and delicate pastries before the meeting began.
Levi hadn’t yet set his coffee down on the table before a deep rasp sounded behind him.
“How kind of you to finally grace us with your presence, Mr. Lockwood,” said Tyler Faulkner, his voice slithering. The way it scraped against Levi’s eardrums always left him feeling somewhat violated.
He discreetly clenched his teeth and forced his temper back. He made a show of setting his things down and looking at his watch before slowly spinning around and responding. “It looks like I’m right on time, give or take a couple of minutes,” Levi said, smiling broadly.
He stared into Tyler’s beady eyes, the color almost as black as the man’s soul, and the only noteworthy feature—aside from his bulbous nose—in his otherwise sunken and wrinkled face.
The Chair of the Board was covered in liver spots, rotund, and short enough that Levi could see his reflection peer back at him from the shiny bald cap of skin atop his head. The only hair he managed to retain was gray and hung limply as it snaked around the sides of his skull.
The audacity this man had was larger than he was.
Tyler scowled up at him. “It’d be more professional if you at least attempted to show up earlier and engage with the rest of the Board members before the meeting. Or are you too good to entertain the likes of us?” he challenged.
Not missing a beat, Levi retorted, “If you wanted me here earlier, then you should’ve at least scheduled the meeting to start earlier. Or are you too good to follow scheduling etiquette?”
Tyler's face and neck turned a bright shade of red as it filled with rage. He sputtered, “Who do you think you are, you—”
But Levi cut him off, his smile unwavering.
“Now, now, Tyler,” he crooned, “let's not get ourselves worked up when you’re supposed to be calling the meeting to order. While I find this back and forth adorable, it’s not very respectful to the rest of the attendees.
If you want to hang out with me so badly, all you have to do is ask. ”
Tyler clamped his slimy mouth shut as pure unadulterated hate emanated from him. Not breaking his stare, Levi smiled wider, knowing it would piss him off even further.
Abruptly turning on his heel, Tyler stalked over to the other end of the conference table. Unceremoniously dropping himself down in the chair, he ignored the looks the other members exchanged.
Levi casually sat down, making himself comfortable as he laid out his paperwork and set his tablet up on the table, ready for the meeting to begin. He noticed the glint of malice in Isaac’s eyes as he glared in Tyler's direction.
Once everyone was seated, the designated clerk started the audio recording used in drafting the meeting minutes.
Tyler called the meeting to order and went through the standard procedural housekeeping items listed on every agenda: roll call, confirming that there was a quorum, and voting to approve the minutes submitted by the clerk from the last meeting.
The agenda topics were exactly the same as the last seven meetings…Levi wanted to claw his eyes out.
Evidently, it was beneath Tyler to bother consulting with Levi on the agenda like he was supposed to; instead, he found out at the same time as every other member—only when notified that a meeting was scheduled.
It was another entry on what was becoming an extraordinarily long list of Levi's grievances against him.
After what felt like a lifetime, he stopped droning on about the overall goals for today's discussion (which were no different from the last three meetings) and turned it over to Levi for his CEO and management reports.
This was the moment he had been getting ready for early that morning. The documentation before him held the information needed, but it was for appearances only—Levi memorized it so he could speak with ease.
Preparing for this moment wasn’t easy.
It never was.
His morning had started hours before dawn, long before the rest of the city stirred.
With his coffee growing cold beside him, Levi sat in his home office surrounded by color-coded notecards, each one breaking down dense financial reports into digestible, visual chunks.
Complex figures and jargon became sketches and bullet points, the important metrics highlighted in bold colors to anchor them in his mind.
Memorization wasn’t a preference; it was critical to his survival. He couldn’t rely on reading smoothly from a report without stumbling over the words, and he refused to give Tyler or anyone else that kind of satisfaction.
Except it was never really such an issue until Tyler joined the Board.
So, like every major presentation before this one, he mapped the numbers to patterns and stories he could recall when standing before the Board. It was grueling, time-consuming work, but it was how he turned a perceived weakness into one of his greatest strengths.
He dove right in with a quick operational update, discussing the performance of all business units while a variety of charts, statistics, and data visualizations were displayed on the large screen before them.
Revenue, profitability, and cash flow continue to rise steadily in line with their forecasted projections for the quarter.
There was virtually no change in this information from the last time he presented it a month ago. The only thing the Board members cared about was sustaining market share and seeing the value of their stock and bank accounts trending upwards.
Finally, Levi had one topic left to cover—the one he and Isaac had been stewing over in his office.
“Regarding strategic initiatives,” Levi said, drumming his fingers on the table, “there isn't anything new to report in terms of ongoing projects and research since our last meeting. We continue to make headway on the BCI front with our initial research, and exploratory data analysis has yielded preliminary but promising results.”
Levi paused briefly, gauging the mood of the room. “Regarding Project DL, however, I do have a new development since we last met.”
The Board members perked up and shared shrewd glances, eager to hear more about this game-changing initiative. Even Tyler seemed momentarily surprised, leaning forward in his chair somewhat, before quickly slipping on a stony mask of indifference.
Having their undivided attention, Levi continued. “It was brought to my attention that we had a security breach. It involved an unauthorized party gaining access to the software development and research department in the building.”
Gasps and murmurs erupted as Levi shifted directly to Tyler and said, “Chairman Faulkner, I’ll defer to you to explain to me and the members of the Board how you violated physical security protocol by following an employee off the elevator to access that department right after our last meeting.”
Tyler's eyes grew wide, his mouth working like a fish out of water as every head in the room snapped in his direction. A predatory smile worked its way onto Levi's face as he motioned to Isaac and added, “While our internal investigation isn’t yet concluded, my understanding is that you used that opportunity to once again insert yourself directly into day-to-day operations and influenced that same employee into making significant changes to the software code. I’m very curious to hear your explanation.”
Before Tyler could reply, Isaac added icily, “As CTO, I’m even more curious to know what project changes were pushed forward without my knowledge or consent, given how horrifically it failed in quality assurance.
This little stunt of yours resulted in an employee receiving disciplinary action, jeopardizing their employment here. ”
Levi raised both arms toward the rest of the room as he said, “So please, regale us with the details of this wildly rebellious situation that you have created for yourself.”
He knew it was a dick move, but watching the look of absolute panic on Tyler's face made it worth it.
Sitting back in his chair, hands folded across his stomach, he patiently waited for Tyler to respond.