As he walked to his hotel room, Matt felt like he was going to pass out from stress and lack of sleep. At the same time, a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He couldn't believe he just turned down $7 million, but deep down he knew it was the right thing to do. The longer he lay in bed, the more doubt crept in about his decision. Matt's phone was blowing up with calls and texts from Tony, telling him to come downstairs and make the deal. One text read, “What room are you in?” but Matt didn't respond. Instead, he put his head in his pillow and tried to fall asleep, hoping to avoid the stress altogether.

Shortly after falling asleep, another text awakened him. He rolled over and saw a text from Jade: “Where are you?” Matt's heart dropped. He was nervous, but he knew he needed to talk with Jade. They had forged a good relationship and Jade trusted him. Matt texted her back and they arranged to meet back in the conference room, alone.

As Matt walked into the room, he saw Jade sitting in the same seat as before. Jade looked confused and frustrated. “Why did you and your team come all the way here if you don't want to sell the technology to us?”

“It's quite complicated,” Matt replied.

“Is there another airline offering you more money?” Jade asked defensively.

“That's not it,” Matt replied quickly. His lip started quivering, but he controlled it and gave Jade an honest answer. “Here's the situation. While the engines have been performing extremely well, the truth is that we haven't received a final passed test yet. I told you we had, but that wasn't true.”

“How is that possible?” Jade looked through the stack of documents in her hand. “I have the certification document in this paperwork.”

Matt took the paper from Jade. “Don't waste your time.” Matt lowered the paper and swallowed. “The document is false.”

Jade nodded with her mouth wide open, barely uttering “What?” in response.

“Listen, I never wanted to proceed with this. Tony demanded that we do it and I didn't have the courage to say no. On top of that, I got caught up in the idea of making such a big commission. My grandpa knew nothing about this and would be shocked if he found out. While I feel confident that the engines would perform well for Thrive Airlines in their current state, I couldn't, with good conscience, sell you these engines when they have not fully passed all of the regulatory testing.”

“Wow. I can't believe this. Why didn't you wait to get the actual passed results? Why rush?” Jade asked.

Matt interrupted. “I know. I'm sorry. I should never have let it go this far. I was fearful for my job and I've spent my life dreaming of making a sale of this magnitude, so I let my emotions factor into my decision‐making. I allowed personal gain to be a higher priority than doing the right thing. We should have waited for the certified test results, but Tony was adamant we proceed. I caved to the pressure. I can't blame anyone else but myself for what has happened. I am so sorry.”

Jade sat there and let Matt's words sink in. “I'm going to be honest.” She sucked her bottom lip in, then released it. “You did the right thing. You just potentially saved Thrive Airlines millions of dollars in future lawsuits and possible malfunctions in our aircrafts. I'm annoyed that you let it go this far, but I thank you for your honesty.”

A weight lifted off Matt's shoulders.

“We could sue you, you know,” Jade said with a stern voice.

“I know. We would deserve it.” Matt lowered his eyes.

Jade added, “Listen. I just want you to know that we're not going to do that, and it's going to take some time for us to figure everything out on our end, but if and when the engine passes, I want to be the first person to hear about it. Deal?”

“Deal.” Matt shook her hand and added, “I am very confident that they will pass, and when they do, I'll call you immediately.”

Matt went back to his hotel room feeling strangely refreshed. He knew he had made the right decision.

After their conversation, Jade quickly called Jerry.

As Jerry answered the phone, Jade stated, “Because of your grandson, we didn't move forward with the sale.”

Jerry almost fell out of his seat. “What happened, what did he do wrong?”

“Nothing. In fact, he just saved us big time. It turns out that Tony forged the signatures on the test results. Your engines haven't yet passed all the regulatory tests.”

Jerry was stunned. “What? How is this possible? How did you find out?”

Jade explained how Matt refused to sign the papers. She told him how Tony threatened his job if he didn't move forward. She concluded, “Matt did the right thing. I have never seen someone act like that with so much money on the line.”

Jerry couldn't believe what he was hearing. He was furious that Tony, a man who had worked for Turnbow for almost a decade, would do something like this. But he was also thankful for his grandson's decision.

Jerry responded somberly, “I'm so sorry, I don't even know where to begin. I will make things right and I can promise you that we will work 24/7 on our end to get the test results, so we can get you those engines.”

After Jerry and Jade's call, Jerry had Tony terminated immediately. Jerry then picked up the phone and called Matt.

When Matt answered, Jerry said, “You did the right thing for the sake of our company and I'm so proud of you. Jade called and told me everything. Tony has been terminated. Effective immediately, you are now VP of Sales.” He took a deep breath. “I think Thrive Airlines will wait until we have passed all the regulatory tests because of your integrity and transparency. Great work.”