Chapter Forty-One—Ethan
I’m already in the back of the car when the worst scenarios start playing out.
Liam leans against the open door, arms crossed. “You don’t have to do this alone.”
“I do,” I say. “Harrington wants a clean conversation. No audience.”
Andrew stands beside him, watching me the way he does. “If he pushes you toward cutting Connor loose, you shut it down.”
I don’t answer. I close the door.
The city moves past the window. I run numbers I’ve already run. Every outcome. Every variable. None of them fully hold.
By the time I walk into the private dining room at the club, my face is under control. Harrington rises, shakes my hand, and gets straight to it—one of the things I’ve always respected about him.
“The partnership has developed a key-man risk,” he says. “Connor Monroe’s recent behavior—canceled meetings, personal conflicts affecting the partnership—has investors concerned about governance stability. Two canceled meetings in forty-eight hours is enough to trigger a review on our side.”
“The operational side remains on track,” I say. “Deliverables are holding.”
Harrington nods like he expected the response. “We like the team. We like the vision. But we need certainty. One path forward is to restructure. Remove the point of friction.”
He lets that sit.
“Buy Connor out. Adjust equity. Whatever form it takes. The deal closes cleaner. Better terms. Fewer conditions.”
“And Connor?”
“Exits with a strong position. Generous terms. Clean narrative—differences in vision, strategic realignment. Nothing that impacts valuation.”
I sit back. “Convenient.”
“Effective,” he says. “Which is what you’ve always wanted.”
He’s not wrong.
The numbers line up the moment he finishes. Cleaner cap table. Faster close. More control—exactly the version I spent three years positioning for. It would take twenty seconds to say yes.
I sit with it.
One version: clean, fast, controlled. The deal closes. Everything I’ve built locks into place. Riley and the baby have financial certainty. No scrambling.
The other version: Connor stays. We take the hit. The timeline stretches. The board gets a seat. We give up ground.
And somewhere across town, Riley is carrying something none of us planned for, trusting that I’ll make the right call.
My phone vibrates in my pocket. I wait until Harrington steps away before I check it.
Riley: I support you and know you will make the right choice.
It’s just what I needed to hear.
When Harrington returns, I tell him I need another day to review the structure.
He agrees. He’s pleased I didn’t shut the door.
I walk out into the late afternoon knowing I left with less than I walked in with, which is a new feeling for me.
Back at the suite, all three of them are waiting.
Liam stops pacing the second I step through. Andrew is in the chair by the window, still, but his eyes track me immediately. Riley is already standing.
I set my keys down. I tell them everything—the offer, the structure, what we give up by saying yes and what we give up by saying no. I don’t soften it.
No one speaks when I finish.
Riley’s voice is the first. “What are you going to do?”
I look at the three of them. I look at her.
“I need until morning,” I say. “One night.”
Nobody argues. That’s almost harder than if they had. Liam opens his mouth, closes it again. Andrew nods once. Riley crosses the room and takes my hand without saying anything, and I hold on to it and try to remember the last time I didn’t have a model for what came next.
Sitting here with all of them, I understand something I couldn’t have run a calculation on.
There isn’t an option where I don’t give something up.