CHAPTER 9: Vexation

KATHLEEN

My success did not last. The next day my presentation was to continue, or, rather, get more in depth. I walked into the boardroom my nerves and emotions on high, to find Charles already there, along with a few others, and he had moved seats to the very front. Any closer and he'd be in the presenter's seat.

I knew he was trying to intimidate me. Maybe to get back at me for what I'd done. He’d bought his way into the project through sizable donation. That wasn’t something they’d give up quickly, and so I was stuck with him.

I decided to re-use the strategy I'd had the day before. Completely ignore him. Or at least, pretend to. My eyes kept drifting his direction, my heart speeding up every time they did.

My plant worked, to start. The rest of the team listened attentively while I explained the logic behind what I'd been doing for the last few years as well as my most promising results.

It was the tentative continued projection that had the others shifting. I pushed forward,