A darkish caption.

"Yes, send in Mr. Seager." He said on his smartphone before putting it away. As he waited for him to be sent in, Mr. Hayes typed out a short e-mail about the vision he had for this company. He was quick and had it ready when Mr. Seager walked into the office and the door was closed behind him.

Both were about the same age and Mr. Hayes figured that was still the case, at least in a sense. Both had seen the same things at this company and both had come to very different conclusions. Now it was time to set things straight. He bid for Mr. Seager to sit and Mr. Seager did so, though with considerable apprehension.

"So," Mr. Hayes said. "I know what the elephant in the room is. Yes, I do have a woman's body below my neck now. There are two reasons, the first is I just wanted to, and the second, well, I'd ask if you know where Mrs. Veneti is."

At that, Mr. Seager froze, the blood draining from his face.

"You didn't. That's cold even for you."

"I did. That company we did some work for, that big medical one that had a lot of skeletons in their closet? As I know all about those skeletons, they were more than happy to do it. Don't worry, she's not dead, what they're doing with her head I have no idea. Something about man/machine interface... I don't care one bit. Point is, she was the linchpin of your support and now that support is gone."

"Why, this is insane, why did you do this?" Mr. Seager could barely contain his anger. This was total madness.

"Because this was a fight I wanted ended once and for all. No more battles on this. No more fights. Nothing. If I have to walk in on her heels strutting around on her very beautiful legs to put this at an end, good."

"So!" Mr. Hayes started. "I have just finished an e-mail. A short and sweet one, one that lays out that your way is finished and we're not clinging to our past. We need a new corporate direction and I think a former rival would be the perfect face to sell it. I'd offer it to Mrs. Veneti, but as most of her is already here and preoccupied and the rest... well, there is a reason I'm offering this to you. What do you say?"

Mr. Hayes smiled a moment later as Mr. Seager left, shaken beyond shaken, especially when Mr. Hayes had insisted they shake and he had to shake Mrs. Veneti's former hand. This was all too easy. He touched up his e-mail and sent it, smiling as he did, and pushing his chair back after and crossing his legs, looking at them as he thought.

Maybe in a month or two he'd tell Mr. Seager the truth, that Mrs. Veneti was dead, but not by unseemly means. A blood vessel in her brain had burst, leaving her brain-dead within a few minutes. That they had managed to discreetly get her to that other company Mr. Hayes would never know how they pulled that off. All pure happenstance her medical issue, but one that Mr. Hayes knew he could use and an opportunity he knew he couldn't pass up.