Chapter 20 - Victor is terminated
The independent board terminated Victor for cause.
Not because every labor violation was his personal instruction.
Findings:
He knowingly delayed correction of disputed wage practices during financing.
He materially mischaracterized Sarah’s internal-control dispute to me and failed to correct a known misunderstanding central to her termination.
He repeatedly failed to implement promised compliance standardization.
He inadequately disclosed and managed ongoing conflict involving Crown Bridge.
He used company systems and authority in ways that breached executive duties.
Victor denied “cause.”
His contract arbitration continued.
What did termination mean immediately?
Salary ended.
Benefits transitioned under normal rules.
Unvested incentive compensation paused/forfeited subject to arbitration.
Retirement account already vested remained his.
No security escort for television.
He collected personal items under HR supervision.
Then he stopped by my office.
Margaret Sloan allowed five minutes with counsel nearby but not in room.
Victor looked older.
“So this is how it ends.”
“For work, yes.”
“Thirty-eight years.”
“Twenty-eight.”
He smiled.
“Feels longer.”
Then:
“You know Sarah would’ve blown that financing.”
“Maybe.”
“You would’ve hated her for that too.”
“Maybe.”
“We saved the company.”
“Did we?”
“We became a ninety-million-dollar business.”
“That’s not the same answer.”
Victor looked at me.
“You’re rewriting history because a hungry child found you.”
“No.”
“You were there, Arthur.”
“Yes.”
“You wanted labor numbers.”
“Yes.”
“You wanted Friday closing.”
“Yes.”
“You wanted Sarah handled.”
I felt the word.
Handled.
“Yes.”
Victor nodded.
“Then don’t make me the devil so you can be the father again.”
That was the most honest thing he ever said to me.
“I won’t.”
He looked surprised.
“I won’t blame you for what I did.”
Then:
“But you knew the number wasn’t theft.”
His face hardened.
“I knew it wasn’t that simple.”
“And you let me believe it was.”
“Yes.”
There.
No more.
He left.
The company had removed him.
The law still had to decide what he was owed.
And I still had to live with the fact that if Victor had told me the full truth nine years earlier, I might still have fired Sarah for insubordination.
That possibility mattered.
May you like
My failure was not only being deceived.
It was the values that made the deception useful.
