Two days later. Dallas, Texas.
The boardroom on the 23rd floor of Fluor's global headquarters felt heavier than usual. Not because of the lights, or the polished wood table, or the financial reports stacked at every seat.
It was the silence.
A kind of silence that only came before a once-in-a-generation corporate decision.
At the head of the table, Executive Vice President Daniel Offerman reviewed the documents in front of him—again. His jaw was tense, eyes moving quickly through numbers he had already memorized.
A $1.1 billion valuation.
Cash.
Clean exit.
Retention of engineering teams.
No layoffs.
Guaranteed protection of NuScale's legacy.
It was, by all objective metrics, the best offer Fluor had received in years—and the only serious one involving NuScale.
To his right, CFO Victoria Nash tapped her pen anxiously. To his left, Senior VP Harold Strickland leaned back, arms crossed, brows furrowed.
