Chapter 5

I did not sleep.

At five in the morning, I was still sitting at my parents' kitchen table, staring at the locked document on my laptop.

DAILY OPERATIONS COVERAGE - MAREN WHITAKER.

The file itself would not open, but the anniversary workspace showed the documents linked to it. Most had harmless names: event calendar, executive schedule, media contacts.

One was labeled BOARD COMMUNICATION - DRAFT.

I opened it.

The first paragraph thanked me for fifteen years of leadership. The second announced that I had chosen to step back from daily operations for health and family reasons. Until I decided whether…