Page 12 of Code of Heart
Tyler clamped his slimy mouth shut as pure unadulterated hate emanated from him. Not breaking his stare, Levi smiled wider, knowing it would piss him off even further.
Abruptly turning on his heel, Tyler stalked over to the other end of the conference table. Unceremoniously dropping himself down in the chair, he ignored the looks the other members exchanged.
Levi casually sat down, making himself comfortable as he laid out his paperwork and set his tablet up on the table, ready for the meeting to begin. He noticed the glint of malice in Isaac’s eyes as he glared in Tyler's direction.
Once everyone was seated, the designated clerk started the audio recording used in drafting the meeting minutes. Tyler called the meeting to order and went through the standard procedural housekeeping items listed on every agenda: roll call, confirming that there was a quorum, and voting to approve the minutes submitted by the clerk from the last meeting.
The agenda topics wereexactly the sameas the last seven meetings…Levi wanted to claw his eyes out.
Evidently, it was beneath Tyler to bother consulting with Levi on the agenda like he was supposed to; instead, he found out at the same time as every other member—only when notifiedthat a meeting was scheduled. It was another entry on what was becoming an extraordinarily long list of Levi's grievances against him.
After what felt like a lifetime, he stopped droning on about the overall goals for today's discussion (which were no different from the last three meetings) and turned it over to Levi for his CEO and management reports.
This was the moment he had been getting ready for early that morning. The documentation before him held the information needed, but it was for appearances only—Levi memorized it so he could speak with ease.
Preparing for this moment wasn’t easy.
It never was.
His morning had started hours before dawn, long before the rest of the city stirred. With his coffee growing cold beside him, Levi sat in his home office surrounded by color-coded notecards, each one breaking down dense financial reports into digestible, visual chunks. Complex figures and jargon became sketches and bullet points, the important metrics highlighted in bold colors to anchor them in his mind.
Memorization wasn’t a preference; it was critical to his survival. He couldn’t rely on reading smoothly from a report without stumbling over the words, and he refused to give Tyler or anyone else that kind of satisfaction.
Except it was never really such an issue until Tyler joined the Board.
So, like every major presentation before this one, he mapped the numbers to patterns and stories he could recall when standing before the Board. It was grueling, time-consuming work, but it was how he turned a perceived weakness into one of his greatest strengths.
He dove right in with a quick operational update, discussing the performance of all business units while a variety ofcharts, statistics, and data visualizations were displayed on the large screen before them. Revenue, profitability, and cash flow continue to rise steadily in line with their forecasted projections for the quarter.
There was virtually no change in this information from the last time he presented it a month ago. The only thing the Board members cared about was sustaining market share and seeing the value of their stock and bank accounts trending upwards.
Finally, Levi had one topic left to cover—the one he and Isaac had been stewing over in his office.
“Regarding strategic initiatives,” Levi said, drumming his fingers on the table, “there isn't anything new to report in terms of ongoing projects and research since our last meeting. We continue to make headway on the BCI front with our initial research, and exploratory data analysis has yielded preliminary but promising results.”
Levi paused briefly, gauging the mood of the room. “Regarding Project DL, however, I do have a new development since we last met.”
The Board members perked up and shared shrewd glances, eager to hear more about this game-changing initiative. Even Tyler seemed momentarily surprised, leaning forward in his chair somewhat, before quickly slipping on a stony mask of indifference.
Having their undivided attention, Levi continued. “It was brought to my attention that we had a security breach. It involved an unauthorized party gaining access to the software development and research department in the building.”
Gasps and murmurs erupted as Levi shifted directly to Tyler and said, “Chairman Faulkner, I’ll defer to you to explain to me and the members of the Board how you violated physical security protocol by following an employee off the elevator to access that department right after our last meeting.”
Tyler's eyes grew wide, his mouth working like a fish out of water as every head in the room snapped in his direction. A predatory smile worked its way onto Levi's face as he motioned to Isaac and added, “While our internal investigation isn’t yet concluded, my understanding is that you used that opportunity toonce againinsert yourself directly into day-to-day operations and influenced that same employee into making significant changes to the software code. I’mverycurious to hear your explanation.”
Before Tyler could reply, Isaac added icily, “As CTO, I’m even more curious to know what project changes were pushed forward without my knowledge or consent, given how horrifically it failed in quality assurance. This little stunt of yours resulted in an employee receiving disciplinary action, jeopardizing their employment here.”
Levi raised both arms toward the rest of the room as he said, “So please, regale us with the details of this wildly rebellious situation that you have created for yourself.”
He knew it was a dick move, but watching the look of absolute panic on Tyler's face made it worth it.
Sitting back in his chair, hands folded across his stomach, he patiently waited for Tyler to respond.
CHAPTER 6
Aurelia
After meeting with Charles about the inheritance and its possibilities, a tired but more carefree version of Aurelia emerged. The fear remained, but realizing she had nothing left to lose, not even her sanity, made it less overwhelming.
