Chương 5
“Are you all right?” he asked.
She looked at him.
“I know,” he said. “Stupid question.”
“What did you know?”
He closed his eyes briefly.
“Not through a door,” he said.
She removed the chain.
Charles entered and looked around the bridal suite as though he had never seen flowers before. He picked up the silver lid covering the eggs, put it down, then sat on the edge of a sofa.
Savannah remained standing.
“Did you know Richard was married?”
“No.”
“Did you suspect?”
“No.”
“Did you know Mom was moving Emily’s shares?”
“I knew there was a restructuring.”
“Did you know I was the vehicle?”
He rubbed his palms together. “I knew your trust was involved.”
She waited.
“I told myself it was temporary,” he continued. “Emily had become difficult to work with. She was challenging every transaction. Calling emergency meetings. Accusing people without bringing complete evidence.”
“She was right.”
“Some of the time, yes.”
“All of the time?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“You never wanted to know.”
He looked toward the roses. “That may be true.”
Savannah sat across from him, the certificate on the coffee table between them.
“Why did you let them call her unstable?”
Charles’s mouth tightened. “She frightened me.”
“Emily?”
“The way she would not stop. Once she believed something was wrong, she became… relentless. She called at midnight. She came to the house with boxes. She accused your mother of choosing Richard over her own daughter.”
“Was that false?”
“At the time, I believed it was cruel.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
He stared at his hands.
Savannah picked up the certificate. “Who is Rebecca?”
“I have never heard her name.”
“Richard never mentioned a son?”
“No.”
“He took calls from someone named Ben.”
“Benjamin is his chief of staff.”
“Maybe.”
Charles looked up. “Savannah, I failed Emily. I understand that much.”
“You understand it now because she put documents on a forty-foot screen.”
“Yes.”
The answer disarmed her.
He leaned back, tired. “I have spent my life avoiding scenes. Your mother believes any problem can be mastered if the family presents one position. Emily believes silence is complicity. You believe being chosen is the same as being safe.”
Savannah’s face heated. “And what do you believe?”
“That if I wait long enough, stronger people will decide, and I can call it peace.”
The room hummed softly with ventilation.
Charles reached for the proxy authorization on the vanity. “What is this?”
“It was in Mom’s folder.”
He read it.
His expression hardened in slow increments. “Did you sign another copy?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Think.”
“I signed things.”
“What things?”
“I don’t know.”
“Savannah.”
She stood. “Don’t use that tone with me now. You signed things you didn’t read for thirty years.”
He accepted the blow without defending himself.
She paced to the window. Below, black cars filled the hotel drive. Guests stood on the sidewalk while valets hurried between them. A local news van had parked across the street.
“My dress doesn’t have pockets,” she said.
Charles frowned.
“It cost more than some people make in a year, and it doesn’t have pockets. I complained at the fitting. Mom said pockets would ruin the line.”
He waited.
“I keep thinking I should put the ring somewhere, and I have nowhere to put it.”
She held out her hand. Richard’s ring sat in her palm.
Charles rose, took a clean water glass from the minibar, and placed it on the table. Savannah dropped the ring inside.
The small metallic sound made them both look away.
Her phone lit up on the vanity. Margaret was calling.
Neither of them moved.
It stopped, then began again.
Charles said, “You should speak to independent counsel.”
“Do we know anyone independent?”
He almost laughed, but the sound failed. “Apparently not.”
Savannah turned on the phone. A message from an unknown number appeared above the others.
This is Rebecca Hayes. Emily gave me your number. I am sorry you learned this publicly. I am not sorry you learned it. Richard may try to access your accounts or devices. Do not meet him alone. My attorney can provide the marriage record directly to counsel of your choosing.
Savannah read it three times.
“Rebecca contacted me.”
Charles stood. “What does she say?”
Savannah handed him the phone.
He read the message, then returned it. “Answer her.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Neither do I.”
The phone rang again. This time, Richard’s name appeared.
Charles reached toward it. Savannah pulled back.
“I can answer my own phone.”
“I wasn’t going to answer. I was going to suggest you let it ring.”
She watched Richard’s name until the call ended.
A voice message arrived.
Savannah pressed play on speaker.
“Savannah, do not speak to Rebecca, Emily, or anyone claiming to represent them. This is a coordinated extortion attempt. There are explanations for the certificate and the corporate materials, but anything you say tonight can be manipulated. I am at the Hay-Adams. Come alone. We can fix this before your family loses the company.”
Charles looked toward the proxy authorization.
Savannah replayed the message.
“He didn’t say he loves me,” she said.
Her father sat down again. “No.”
“He said the family could lose the company.”
“Yes.”
She looked at him. “Would we?”
“I don’t know.”
“That means yes.”
“It means I do not know.”
“Which is what you say when the truth is expensive.”
Charles looked older again. “Often.”
Another message appeared, this one from Margaret.
Do not respond to anyone. Counsel is coming upstairs. Your marriage may be valid depending on facts not yet established. We will protect you.
Savannah handed the phone to her father.
He read it and frowned. “Depending on facts?”
“Mom knows something.”
“Or she is trying to keep you calm.”
“That is the same thing with her.”
Charles walked to the door. “I am going to the company office.”
“It’s Saturday night.”
“The records room has original board books.”
“Wouldn’t Richard have changed them?”
May you like
“Maybe.”
“Would Mom let you in?”
