“What do you need from me?” Naomi asked.
“Pull everything related to the Cole Vector Meridian acquisition.”
Another pause.
“That deal is confidential.”
“I know.”
“How do you know enough to ask?”
Lauren watched her daughter’s heartbeat trace across the monitor.
“Because Ethan asked me to review Meridian’s medical-device litigation three months ago.”
“And?”
“I told him the risk reports were incomplete.”
“What kind of risk?”
“Implant failures. Infection rates. Internal complaints from two regional hospitals. If the board buys Meridian at the proposed valuation without fully disclosing those problems, somebody eventually gets destroyed.”
Naomi was silent.
“Ethan postponed the final vote after your review, didn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“How much money is involved?”
“Approximately $2.4 billion.”
Naomi exhaled.
“Who loses if the deal dies?”
Lauren looked toward the dark skyline.
“Ethan’s father.”
Charles Cole.
The name settled between them without either woman saying more.
Charles Cole had built the first version of Cole Vector from a two-room warehouse outside Milwaukee thirty-one years earlier.
