“I want you to stop saying recognition is the issue.”
Preston leaned back.
“You’re frightened.”
“Yes.”
The honesty disrupted him.
Conrad continued.
“I’m frightened because a stranger entered our hangar and within minutes you decided she was worth humiliating.”
“You joined me.”
“No.”
“You stood there afterward.”
“I was in the office.”
“And now you get to play conscience?”
Conrad said nothing.
Preston pressed.
“You’ve benefited from me for twenty-six years.”
“Yes.”
“I brought the clients.”
“Yes.”
“I brought the money.”
“Yes.”
“I built the brand.”
“We built it.”
Preston laughed.
“Now one woman cancels a wire and suddenly you discover morality?”
Conrad looked toward the windows.
Below them, mechanics were already working.
“Maybe.”
Preston stared.
Conrad turned back.
“Maybe that’s exactly how late I am.”
The board ordered an independent internal review.
Not because Naomi required it legally.
Because the lenders did.
Word of the canceled transaction had reached them before breakfast.
Whitmore Vale carried significant debt from a fleet expansion completed two years earlier. The $770 million sale was not necessary for immediate survival, but it was central to refinancing due later that year.
Without the deal, leverage remained high.
Interest costs stayed ugly.
And the twelve aircraft returned to the balance sheet at the worst possible moment.
By noon, Preston understood the consequences.
By evening, he blamed Naomi for them.
That became his second mistake.
He called a financial reporter he knew.
Not officially.
Background conversation.
He described Carter Meridian as an “emotional buyer” that abandoned a major transaction because of “a minor hospitality misunderstanding.”
The phrase appeared online the next morning.
Naomi read it during breakfast.
She did not react.
Renee Lawson did.
“We can kill this in twenty minutes.”
“How?”
“Release security footage.”
“No.”
“Naomi.”
“No.”
“He’s framing you as irrational.”
“Let him.”
“Our lenders are seeing this.”
“Our lenders saw the diligence order.”
“They know why we paused.”
“The market doesn’t.”
“We’re private.”
“Partners talk.”
Naomi sipped coffee.
Renee stared.
“You are infuriating.”
“I know.”
“Why not release the footage?”
“Because if I publish it now, everyone focuses on the shove.”
“The shove matters.”
“Yes.”
“But I think there’s something under it.”
Renee frowned.
Naomi slid an engineering memo across the table.
Four aircraft showed inconsistent cycle records.
Two had inspection deferrals that required explanation.
One had a pressure-control component replaced with documentation missing an intermediate verification step.
No immediate safety emergency.
No exploding airplanes.
Something subtler.
A system that had become comfortable approximating.
Renee read.
Her expression changed.
“This could reprice the fleet.”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Too early.”
“Ten million?”
“Possibly.”