"You told me once you never wanted a seat you hadn't earned," Walter said to me. "I remember."
"I still don't."
"I know. That's why I'm considering offering one."
Nobody spoke. Then Walter turned to the investors. "Kingsley Holdings has been reviewing Nexora for some time. The product is promising. The team is talented. But companies rarely fail from weak technology alone. They fail from blind spots. From leaders who confuse loyalty with usefulness. From people who stop telling the truth because truth becomes inconvenient." He paused. "Before we go further, I'd like Claire Ashford to review the company's ethical implementation framework."
"With respect," Vanessa said quickly, "Claire doesn't have the technical background for—"
"I didn't ask her to review code," Walter said. "I asked her to review how this system gets used. Who it affects. What safeguards exist."
One of the engineers, a soft-spoken man named Arjun, cleared his throat. "I'd actually welcome that. We've had internal concerns about deployment risk. An outside perspective would help."
