The hall took nearly ten minutes to settle after Sterling left, shareholders murmuring in stunned clusters, reporters typing furiously, and Ivy stood at the front of the room with Reagan beside her, feeling every eye in the space turn toward her at once.

She hadn't planned to speak. But watching the room's uncertainty, the particular dangerous vacuum left behind after chaos, Ivy understood suddenly, clearly, that silence right now would let Julian's accusation linger unanswered no matter how thoroughly the evidence had already debunked it.

"I'd like to say something," she said, and her voice, to her own surprise, came out steady.

The room quieted, cameras swinging back toward her....