The board announced Trent's official appointment as co-CEO three days later, a press release full of careful corporate language about balanced leadership and governance best practices that made Ivy's stomach turn every time she read it.

Sterling took the news with a controlled, dangerous calm that worried Ivy more than open fury would have.

"He'll want an office on this floor," Sterling said, staring out the window of the office that had been solely his for six years. "Access to everything. A seat at every meeting I take."

"Can you work with him," Ivy asked. "Actually work with him, not just tolerate him."

"I don't have a choice. The board's...