“Would you?”
The question hurt because Lauren knew the answer.
Eleven years earlier, Hale Dynamics had been
exploding in size.
Victoria had signed hundreds of documents every month.
Legal settlements.
Regulatory filings.
Acquisitions.
Internal investigations.
She had trusted executives beneath her to summarize what mattered.
How many lives had been reduced to three lines on a briefing sheet?
“How bad was it for him?” Victoria asked.
Lauren hesitated.
“Very.”
“Tell me.”
“His medical privileges were suspended during the investigation. He spent nearly everything fighting the case. His wife’s family sued.
The case became public locally. He eventually surrendered his license voluntarily.”
Victoria stared down at her hands.
Yesterday those hands had been lifeless.
Ethan Carter had put breath back into her lungs.
And eleven years earlier, her signature may have helped take his entire life apart.
