Chapter 26 - The final company decision
A year after the hospital incident had not fully passed; it was eleven months later when the board finished governance restructuring.
Lenora’s shares remained hers.
She no longer chaired.
The company eliminated the old executive dependent-slot model entirely.
New family benefits:
Named current beneficiaries.
Annual eligibility verification.
No deceased profiles retained in active payment systems.
Direct vendor reimbursement.
Independent approval for related-party exceptions.
Quarterly audit.
No board chair unilateral override.
Tax treatment reviewed before payment, not years later.
Audrey remained a shareholder but stepped out of compensation committee for eighteen months.
I stayed chief executive.
The board criticized me too.
I had failed to supervise a program attached to my own executive profile.
I accepted that.
Then the last fight.
Lenora petitioned through counsel for permission to resume contact with Etta after release.
She was out after serving her custodial portion with ordinary credits.
Probation had begun.
Etta’s therapist recommended:
No direct contact yet.
Etta said:
“I don’t want Grandma touching me.”
That was enough for me.
Lenora argued:
“I am her grandmother.”
Not a legal trump card.
We offered:
Screened letters only.
No visits.
Lenora initially refused.
Then accepted.
Her first letter said:
I am sorry you fell at the hospital.
The therapist rejected it.
Why?
It erased Lenora’s action.
She had not merely witnessed a fall.
Second attempt:
I am sorry I pulled you from your hospital bed after I had been told not to. I was wrong. You did not deserve it.
That one Etta was allowed to choose whether to hear.
She said:
“Later.”
We kept it sealed.
Then Lucas.
He stopped the expensive leadership camps.
Not because we punished him.
Because he hated them.
He joined a public robotics club instead.
Lenora had spent thousands preparing a boy to become someone he never asked to be.
Lucas wanted to build small machines.
Audrey let him.
The final restitution agreement was signed the same week.
Company records corrected.
Tax amendments accepted.
Civil claims dismissed.
No hidden account remained under Oliver’s name.
May you like
OM-117 was permanently closed.
This time properly.
