Nancy stood before Mason had even finished settling back into his chair. "I'd like to address each of these points directly, if the board doesn't mind." She moved through Mason's objections one by one, calm and precise, pulling documentation from her folder to counter every claim. The disclosure timing matched exactly what regulatory filings required. She had the filed dates to prove it. The valuation method matched three prior acquisitions the company itself had used in the past decade, with the paperwork to show it. By the time she finished, Mason's "irregularities" looked less like genuine concerns and more like a list assembled in a hurry by someone hoping nobody would check the math.
"With respect," Nancy finished, "this acquisition was executed cleanly, transparently, and entirely within regulatory and company guidelines. I'd encourage the board to ask itself why these concerns are only being raised now, 2 days after Mr. Archer's ownership was formally announced."
Silence settled over the table. Hannah Varner finally spoke, her voice cutting cleanly through the quiet. "I have a question for Mr. Mason." She didn't wait for permission. "Why wasn't any of this reviewed before the acquisition closed? You're the company's general counsel. Due diligence on a deal like this would have crossed your desk months ago."
Mason's jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. "We're still gathering the full picture, Miss Varner."
"That's not an answer." Varner turned toward Joshua for the first time that morning, studying him with the same directness she'd just used on Mason. "Mr. Archer, I'd like to hear directly from you why you kept this acquisition quiet for 3 months."
Joshua met her eyes without hesitation. "Because I wanted to understand this company from the inside, not from a press release. I wanted to know how it actually treats the people who work for it and buy from it, before I stepped into a boardroom and started making decisions about its future."
"And what did you learn?"
Joshua didn't flinch. "More than I expected to."
Varner held his gaze a moment longer, something shifting behind her expression. Not quite warmth, but respect, the kind earned rather than assumed. She looked back toward the table. "I move that the board reject this review and formally uphold the acquisition as executed."
She said the vote came quickly after that. Six in favor, five against. Mason's carefully assembled objections collapsing under the weight of Nancy's documentation and Varner's refusal to let vague suspicion pass as fact.
Mason gathered his folder without a word, his composure cracking just slightly at the edges as he excused himself from the room early, already dialing someone before he'd even reached the door.
As the room emptied, Hannah Varner lingered near Joshua's seat. "I don't back people because of their name," she said quietly. "I've spent too many years watching this board do exactly that. I'll back whoever actually shows me the real books."
"I intend to," Joshua said.
Varner nodded once like she was filing that promise away for later and walked out, leaving Joshua and Nancy alone in a boardroom that for the first time since the gala felt like it might actually belong to them.
2 days after the board vote, Joshua's phone buzzed with an email from an address he didn't recognize. No subject line, just a short message.
"I have information about Preston Mason you need to see. Can we meet somewhere away from the office? D. Olivar, senior controller, Holstead Beauty Group."
Joshua showed it to Nancy within the hour. She read it twice, her expression sharpening the way it always did when something felt real instead of noisy. "Senior controller," she said. "That's not a title people throw around lightly when they're trying to cause trouble. That's someone with actual access to the books."
"Set it up," Joshua said. "Somewhere quiet."
They met Donald Olivar two evenings later at a small coffee shop several blocks from Holstead's headquarters. A place with no company logos on the walls, and few enough customers that a quiet conversation wouldn't draw attention.
Donald arrived first. A worn leather bag on the seat beside him, his hands wrapped tightly around a cup of coffee. He clearly wasn't drinking. He didn't waste time on pleasantries once Joshua and Nancy sat down.
"I've worked at Holstead Beauty Group for 11 years," Donald said, keeping his voice low. "I've watched a lot of things happen in that building that I told myself weren't my business. This isn't one of them."
He slid a folder across the table, the same documents he'd copied that night on the finance floor, printed now and organized into a clear timeline. Joshua opened it slowly. Wire transfers, shell vendor names, authorization forms, all bearing the same signature at the bottom.
"Preston Mason has been skimming from the company's pension fund for at least four years," Donald said. "Small percentages dressed up as consulting fees and logistics costs, routed through vendors that don't actually exist. It adds up to a significant amount of money that should belong to retired employees who worked for this company their entire careers."
Joshua flipped through the pages slowly, his jaw tightening with each new document. "And Venus?"
Donald hesitated, choosing his words carefully. "Her signature is on some of the higher-level authorizations, but I don't think she read what she was signing. I've watched her operate for years. She trusts Mason completely. Signs what he puts in front of her without asking many questions. That's not an excuse, but it's the truth as far as I can tell."
Nancy leaned forward. "You're saying she's negligent, not necessarily complicit."