**Cardwell industries **

The mahogany table stretched like a gleaming battlefield across the executive conference room. Twenty-two leather chairs surrounded it, each one occupied by a member of Cardwell Industries' board of directors. At the head sat David, his silver hair catching the morning light streaming through floor-to-ceiling windows, his presence filling the room majestically, To his right, the newly installed Vice Chairman's chair waited.

Ava paused outside the frosted glass ...