Chapter 17 - THE BOARDROOM
Daniel’s arrest forced an emergency meeting of the Bennett Surgical Partners board.
Richard’s attorneys attempted to remove me before control of the practice could be transferred.
They argued that the investigation made me a reputational risk.
They expected me to defend my position.
Instead, I entered the boardroom with Maya, Evan, two federal investigators, and Thomas Avery’s widow.
Margaret Avery carried a photograph of her husband.
Daniel had described Thomas as a complicated patient.
Margaret described him as a teacher who spent thirty years helping children with disabilities.
The board members could not look at her.
Richard attended by video from the detention center.
Daniel appeared beside his attorney.
Lauren sat at the far end of the table.
Claire was absent.
The chairman began the vote to remove me.
I allowed him to finish.
Then Maya distributed my mother’s trust documents.
The room changed.
Several board members had believed Daniel owned the majority of the practice.
He had told them so for years.
They learned that I controlled fifty-one percent.
They also learned that the partnership agreement contained a misconduct provision.
Any partner involved in fraud could lose voting authority pending investigation.
Daniel’s forty-nine percent had been suspended.
Richard had no ownership at all.
His power had depended entirely on fear and Daniel’s obedience.
I stood at the head of the table.
“The vote is canceled.”
Daniel laughed.
“You think you can run a surgical practice?”
“No.”
“I think qualified physicians can run medicine.”
“I will run the business you nearly destroyed.”
Richard leaned toward his camera.
“You are nothing without our name.”
“It is my name too.”
“You married into it.”
“And I am divorcing out of it.”
Maya presented the restructuring plan.
The practice would be renamed Carter Patient Care Group.
An independent ethics committee would review device contracts.
A patient compensation fund would be created using recovered Northstar assets.
Margaret Avery would serve as a public adviser.
Daniel stared at me.
“You planned all of this?”
“I learned from twelve years of cleaning up your decisions.”
Federal investigators then entered formal notices into the record.
Richard was charged with conspiracy, fraud, obstruction, and attempted destruction of evidence.
Daniel faced charges related to forged documents, financial fraud, obstruction, and falsification of medical records.
Lauren’s charges would depend on her cooperation.
The boardroom door opened.
Claire stepped inside.
Daniel looked at her.
For one second, the old connection passed between them.
Then Claire placed the original recorder before the investigators.
“I’m ready to testify,” she said.
May you like
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(1048x378:1050x380)/Jenna-Bush-Hager-100223-c94955eb572d47ea815a340c18c6e771.jpg)
Daniel closed his eyes.
The empire he had tried to steal from me ended in the room where he once believed I had no voice.
