The quiet of the kitchen did not last. The peace Silas felt was shattered by the vibrating hum of his phone on the wooden table. It was a text from Julian. It contained a single image of the Vane-Corp boardroom. The directors were already seated. Julian was standing at the head of the table. He was holding a gavel.
"I have to go back," Silas said. He looked at June. The light in his eyes faded. "Not for the money. If I don't face them, Julian will use the company's legal team to tie this orchard up in court for years. He will bury you in fees until you have to sell just to pay the lawyers."
June gripped the edge of the table. "You said he was irrelevant."
"He is," Silas said. "But the power he has isn't. I have to strip him of it. I have to go to New York and end this."
"You're going to leave again," June whispered. The old fear was back. It was sharp and cold.
Silas took her hands. His grip was firm. "I am coming back. I am leaving my SUV here. I am leaving my laptop. I am going with a suit and a plane ticket. I will be back before the final harvest begins. I promise you."
June looked at him for a long time. She saw the grit. She saw the man who had dug in the mud for an iron stake. She nodded slowly. "Go. Finish it. But if you aren't back by the time the first bushel is packed, do not bother coming back at all."
The flight to Manhattan was a blur of gray clouds and bitter coffee. Silas didn't call ahead. He didn't alert security. He walked into the Vane-Corp lobby at 10:00 AM. He was wearing his charcoal suit. He had cleaned the dirt from under his fingernails. He looked like the titan he used to be. But his jaw was still bruised. He felt like a soldier returning from a front line no one else could see.
He bypassed the reception desk. He walked straight to the executive elevator. He used his private key. The doors opened on the top floor. The air was cold. It was silent. He walked toward the boardroom. He could hear Julian's voice through the heavy oak doors.
"Silas Vane has abandoned his post," Julian was saying. "He has become a liability. He is compromised by a personal vendetta. I have the signatures from the majority shareholders. We move to vacate the CEO position immediately."
Silas pushed the doors open. The heavy wood hit the wall with a loud crack. Every head in the room turned. Julian froze. He was holding a pen over a legal document.
"The seat isn't empty yet, Julian," Silas said.
He walked to the head of the table. He didn't sit down. He stood and looked at the board members. These were people he had made millionaires. These were people who were ready to sell him out for a smoother merger.
"Julian told us you were unreachable," one director said. "He said you were refusing to sign the Globex deal."
"I am refusing to sign it," Silas said. "Because the merger is based on a lie. Julian Thorne has been using company assets to harass a private citizen. He attempted to illegally seize land in Georgia to leverage a contract. He used Vane-Corp funds to create a shell company called Thorne Holdings."
Julian laughed. He regained his composure quickly. "That is a desperate lie, Silas. You are the one who has been playing house in a swamp. I was protecting the company."
"You didn't protect the company," Silas said. He pulled a thumb drive from his pocket. He tossed it onto the obsidian table. "On that drive is the digital trail. You didn't just look for a deed error. You bribed a clerk in the County office to delete the digital record of a 1950s survey. That is a felony, Julian. It is wire fraud. It is racketeering."
Julian's face went pale. He looked at the drive. He looked at the board. "He's bluffing. He's been in the woods. He doesn't have anything."
"I have the physical survey from the barn," Silas said. "And I have the statement from the clerk you paid off. He was very talkative once I mentioned the FBI. He didn't want to go to jail for you."
The room went cold. The board members began to murmur. Julian reached for the drive, but a security guard stepped forward. Silas had already sent the files to the internal audit team. The monitors on the wall flickered to life. Emails appeared. Bank transfers appeared. It was all there. Julian's signature was on everything.
"This meeting is no longer about my removal," Silas said. He looked at the guards at the door. "It is about Julian's exit. Take him out. Call the police."
Julian stood up. His eyes were wide with a frantic, cornered energy. "You think you won? You destroyed the merger, Silas! Globex is gone. You saved a dirt patch and killed an empire. You're a failure!"
"I'd rather be a failure with a conscience than a success like you," Silas said.
Security took Julian by the arms. He was dragged out of the room. The sound of his voice faded down the hall.
Silence fell over the boardroom. Silas looked at the skyline of New York. He saw the glass towers. He saw the millions of people rushing below. He thought about the orchard. He thought about the smell of woodsmoke and the way June looked in the morning light.
"I am resigning," Silas said.
The board gasped. "You can't. You just saved us."
"I saved myself," Silas said. "Sell the assets. Pivot the company. Do what you want. But I am finished with the city. I have a harvest to finish."
He didn't wait for them to argue. He walked out of the boardroom. He walked past his office without looking inside. He left his phone on the desk. He took nothing but the keys to his SUV.
He arrived back in Oakhaven as the sun was setting. The air was crisp. The smell of ripe apples was heavy in the wind. He drove down the gravel path. He saw the lights on in the main house.
He stepped out of the car. He saw June standing on the porch. She was holding a basket of apples. She looked at him. She looked at the car.
"You're back," she said. Her voice was small.
"I told you I would be," Silas said. He walked toward her. He felt the familiar crunch of the gravel. He felt the peace of the orchard.
"What happened?" she asked.
"Julian is gone," Silas said. "The merger is dead. I quit, June. I don't have twenty billion dollars anymore. I have a few million in savings and a sore back. Is that enough for a farmhand?"
June set the basket down. She walked down the porch steps. She stopped in front of him. She looked at his face. She saw the relief. She saw the truth.
"We start the harvest tomorrow at four," she said.
"I'll be there," Silas said.
June reached out. She took his hand. She didn't let go. They stood in the twilight of the orchard. The performance was over. The business was done. The real life was just beginning.