It would have been easy to retaliate. Hale Meridian depended on credit facilities and technology partnerships in which Northstar's network had influence. Daniel could have called lenders and warned them that Victoria Hale was untrustworthy, or instructed subsidiaries to reconsider their business relationships. Such moves might have produced the humiliation she had apparently expected from him. They would also have harmed workers, customers, and suppliers who had nothing to do with her decision.
He refused to make a billion-dollar platform an instrument of wounded pride. The distinction was not difficult for him to understand, but it required discipline at a moment when part of him was deeply angry. He thought about Noah seeing the folder hit his chest, about people looking away rather than asking what was happening, and about the chance that any public reaction would spread beyond the adults involved. Daniel set down the phone and listened to his son breathe softly beside the window.
In Denver they checked into a small hotel near the museum rather than the luxury property Northstar's travel team had offered. Noah inspected the room as though it were a scientific installation, counting the towels, checking the view, and asking whether the television could display the astronaut program they had watched at home. Daniel ordered dinner and let him choose a dessert, though he negotiated for vegetables first. By the time the food arrived, Noah had recovered enough excitement to ask when they would see the simulated mission-control room.
Later, as they sat on the floor assembling a souvenir model rocket, Noah returned to the airport. "Do you still like the lady who fired you?" he asked. His fingers turned a plastic fin over and over while he waited for an answer. He seemed less interested in Victoria herself than in whether an adult could be treated badly without becoming bad in return.
Daniel thought carefully. "I don't think she made a good choice," he said. "And I don't think the way she spoke to me was respectful. But liking somebody and agreeing with what they did aren't always the same thing."
"Are you mad?"
"Yes. A little."
Noah looked surprised. "You don't look mad."
"Being angry doesn't mean I have to give my anger control of everything I do." Daniel fitted the last piece onto the model. "Sometimes the best thing is to decide what matters, make sure everyone is safe, and take care of the problem in the right order."
"Like when I got mad at Oliver for knocking down my tower?"
"Exactly. You wanted to knock down his tower, remember? But then you helped rebuild yours instead."
Noah nodded solemnly. "Oliver still shouldn't have done it."
"No," Daniel agreed. "He shouldn't have."