For a split second, I thought she was finally going to speak up for me. Then her tone shifted.
"Jacob."
"I know you've contributed to this company. I know you once traded yourself to kidnappers to save me. But the company is finding its footing now, and you've been falling behind the new pace. So..."
She knew all of that. And she was still doing this to me.
I cut her off. "So you're teaming up with an outsider to burn the bridge after crossing it? To toss aside the person who got you here?"
If not for me working around the clock, day and night, Henson Group would have gone bankrupt three years ago.
And whether the Delgado partnership went through at all? That hinged entirely on my say-so.
"Don't make it sound so ugly. This is all for the good of the company." Marlene's brow creased. "If we're committing to reform, we have to go all in. No exceptions."
"You and your people—you've taken up too many positions in this company."
Her explanation.
To my ears, it was hollow. Paper-thin. I couldn't help pressing one more time. "Is this really all for the company? Or is it because he was the moon you could never reach?"
Silence crashed over the room like a wave.
Even Marlene's eyes went wide.