Page 172 of Say My Name

“Yes.”

I don’t need Elena to confirm it. Daniel’s age, position, and familiarity with her match everything she told me.

Evan picks up his tablet. “What do you want to do?”

Every instinct I have is screaming to find her. But first, the anger needs a cage.

“I need a few minutes.”

He leaves without another question.

I trace the rim of a water glass, my eyes fixed on Elena’s empty chair.

Last week, Cliff told me she’d sounded strained when she mentioned the acquisition. I promised I would watch her. I saw her walk through the office looking pale and distracted, noticed every unusual detail, then explained all of them with the breakup because that explanation centered me.

Daniel appeared, and Elena handled him alone.

I replay the beginning of the call. Her fingers stop. Her face loses color. Daniel says her name with an unearned intimacy, as if five years haven’t passed. Elena shuts him down, files the proper disclosure, arranges coverage, and disappears somewhere none of us can follow.

My anger settles into something cold enough to use.

I call Evan back before he reaches the elevator. “Bring general counsel and acquisitions. I want every available path on the table within thirty minutes.”

“Including withdrawal?”

This isn’t a negotiation. “Especially withdrawal.”

The four of us reconvene in my office with the Weller file open on the conference table. Our general counsel brings the privileged conflict determination, stripped of every personal detail Elena didn’t authorize us to see. The head of acquisitions brings the cost ledger and a revised transition chart.

“Three realistic options,” counsel says. “Proceed with Ms. Vale permanently recused. Pause and require governance conditions. Or withdraw.”

“Start with proceeding.”

The head of acquisitions turns the transition chart toward me. “We can move her remaining responsibilities to another executive. Weller wants to lead the eighteen-month leadership transition himself. He would have regular access to senior management, board materials, integration meetings, and the teams Elena currently oversees.”

“Can you guarantee no professional contact?”

“No,” counsel says. “We can limit it. We can’t eliminate it without changing the transaction.”

“Then the conditional pause.”

Evan reads from the page in front of him. “Require Daniel’s removal from transition, an independent integration lead, and expanded representations about undisclosed conflicts.”

“Would Weller agree?”

“Unlikely,” acquisitions says. “His continued leadership is part of the value proposition. Removing him changes the valuation and may collapse the deal anyway.”

Counsel taps the disclosure timeline. “Another issue: Weller’s side received the preliminary Rowe team list before Thursday’s identity-release call. Daniel Weller knew Ms. Vale was assigned to the evaluation. He did not disclose the prior relationship or request a conflict screen.”

“He waited until he could address her in front of our team.”

“We can’t prove motive,” counsel says. “We can document nondisclosure. With his planned transition role, it creates governance and reputational risk, regardless of Ms. Vale’s personal history.”

I look at the cost ledger. Outside diligence, legal review, internal labor, and weeks of executive time already spent. Walking away will cost us all of it. The board will lose an expansion opportunity supported by Elena’s own model, and I will explain why I rejected the team’s preliminary recommendation.

The question tastes like ash. “If Elena resigns, does that cure the risk?” I ask.

Counsel meets my gaze directly. “It removes the employee conflict. It does not cure Weller’s failure to disclose it, the integrity concern surrounding his leadership, or the transition exposure we would be accepting.”