Chapter 10: Cleaning House
In the forty-eight hours following Eleanor’s arrest, the corporate landscape underwent an earthquake. Director Miller and Director Hoffman attempted to flee the country via private jet but were apprehended on the tarmac at JFK International Airport.
Maya sat at the end of the mahogany boardroom table on the forty-fifth floor of Sterling BioTech. Around her sat temporary legal custodians, regulatory auditors, and Dr. Vance, who had voluntarily surrendered his medical logs to testify for the prosecution.
"The board is dissolved," Maya stated clearly, looking at the interim management team. "Every project focused on price gouging is terminated immediately."
"Miss Sterling," one of the senior analysts warned cautiously, "releasing Arthur’s insulin patent into the public domain will cause our short-term stock value to drop by forty percent."
Maya looked the man in the eye. "My father didn't build this company to make billionaires richer. He built it so that people wouldn't have to choose between their medicine and their groceries. If our value drops, let it drop. Human lives aren't commodities."
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She signed the executive order transferring the manufacturing rights of the synthetic insulin formula to an open-source non-profit consortium.
Dr. Vance smiled from the back of the room, a tear welling in his eye. For the first time in months, the air in the boardroom felt clean.
