“What? Why?”
“It just might be better.” His jaw tightens. “Please stay out here.”
“Landon, no, this is on me too. Besides, I think a united front goes a lot better. They’re just scared, but whatever your plan is for getting them back in line, I want to be there.”
“Serena-”
“I’m coming inside, Landon,” I say sharply.
His eyes narrow, but he nods before he turns for the door. I follow.
The boardroom is silent and stony, and the faces of the men and women sitting at the table turn as we step inside.
An older, silver-haired man stands and nods. “Landon.”
“Don.”
“Look, son.” Don spreads his arms. “Landon, we all understand how you’re feeling, and believe me, I get it.”
“Do you?”
“With all due respect, Landon, try and remember that I’ve been at this table since before you were playing peewee football.”
Landon’s shoulders tighten under his suit jacket as he strides to the table and pounds a fist against it. “And yet, here we are! Sam’s awake, Don, you can’t possibly move forward with this now.”
Don sighs, dropping his head as the room murmurs. “He’s not in a coma, Landon, but no one knows what that means yet. We don’t know if he’ll really wake up. We don’t know if his mind will work. Hell, we don’t know if he’ll know what football is.”
“This is absurd,” Landon hisses. “You all should be fucking ashamed of yourselves.”
“You’ve both done a tremendous job, we all know that,” an older woman to Don’s left says, nodding around the table at the board.
Don clears his throat. “Look, no one is closing the Rattlesnakes down or anything. This team isn’t going anywhere. But we’ve got interested parties, and we need to act on that interest.”
“You’re talking about selling a legacy, Don! You’re talking about selling Sam’s legacy.”
“We have to assume Sam’s out, Landon, you know that.”
“And us?”
Landon turns at the sound of my voice along with Don and the rest of the board.
“I guess that means we’re out too.”
“You’ll both be very well rewarded for the work you’ve done to plug the leaks, Ms. Roth, I can promise you.”
“A reward that does not include twenty-four and a half owner shares, does it.” Landon’s voice is icy, and suddenly, what he’s saying starts to sink in.
Holy shit.
I know saying it was all about the money is a terrible thing to say, but it is how we got here. Whatever happened along the way, and whatever is going on with the man standing next to me, the goal when we started was one thing: money.
Don looks down at his hands. “It hasn’t been thirty-days, Landon.”
Landon swears as he pounds his fist against the table again, making everyone sitting at it jump in surprise. “And what happens to those owner shares, Donald.”
Don looks at his hands uncomfortable again. “It’s all…well, it’s all a little complicated, Landon, what with you holding Sam’s shares, and yet them only being voting-”
“What happens, Don,” he growls.
“Redistribution,” the older woman says timidly.
My jaw drops, and Landon whirls on her.
“Are you fucking kidding me, Alice?”
“Landon, it’s just-”
“You people are fucking vultures!” Landon spits. He jabs a finger across at the table. “Nice fucking timing, Don.”
“Landon, I assure you, this is nothing personal. It’s just numbers, and the numbers don’t lie here. And remember, you still have your board shares as well. You won’t come away from this empty-handed.”
“What about her?”
Don chances a look at me, smiling thinly. “We’ve, uh, we’ve prepared what we feel is a fair settlement for Ms. Roth in exchange for dissolving her involvement with this team.”
I choke out a breath, shaking my head.
“You can’t do this,” Landon says quietly.
“Landon, it’s happening.”
“You need to listen to me when I say you can’t sell Sam’s legacy out from under him.”
“Landon,” Don sighs again, shaking his head. “Son, I’m so sorry that this is happening like this, but-”
“Don.”
There’s something tight in Landon’s voice that has me looking up from my twisting hands. He’s looking right at me, his face pained, that look of holding something back or wrestling with something that I saw before on his face.
“I’m sorry,” he says quietly, right to me.