Chương 11
Gavin laughed.
“This is unbelievable.”
His attorney whispered to him.
He waved the man away.
“She is my assistant.”
Elise’s face changed.
Not much.
Enough.
“She is an employee.”
He heard the correction.
So did everyone else.
I thought of Camila missing the buttonhole on her blouse.
Of her stopping when Gavin told her not to leave.
Of her passport in his possession.
I had spent the night seeing her as the woman who helped destroy my marriage.
That remained true in one sense.
Another truth was forming beside it.
Gavin had controlled more than one woman with money.
The thought did not absolve her.
It complicated her.
I hated complications.
They demanded effort.
Gavin looked toward Arthur.
“You’re letting a disgruntled assistant dictate executive governance.”
Arthur said, “No.”
“You haven’t even heard my side.”
“We have been hearing your side for forty minutes.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“No,” Arthur said.
“It is not.”
Gavin stood.
His attorney stood with him.
“I am not going to sit here while my wife, my assistant, and a trust lawyer manufacture a case because they want my position.”
My stomach turned.
My position.
There it was.
He still believed the center of every conflict was something he owned.
I said, “Sit down, Gavin.”
His head turned toward me.
For years, that tone had belonged to him.
The room noticed.
He did too.
“I don’t take orders from you.”
“No.”
I folded my hands on the table.
“You take them from the board.”
Arthur looked at Elise.
Elise nodded once.
“Mr. Prescott, please remain seated until the meeting is formally adjourned.”
His face reddened.
His attorney murmured something.
Finally, Gavin sat.
Arthur turned to me.
“Do you want to say anything regarding last night’s call?”
I looked around the table.
Some of these people had watched Camila on Gavin’s lap.
Some had probably looked away.
Some had probably watched longer than they wanted to admit.
“I don’t know what any of you heard before I entered the office.”
Arthur said, “Enough.”
I nodded.
“I heard Gavin tell Camila he could cover a Porsche through a discretionary account.”
Gavin said, “It was a joke.”
I kept my eyes on Arthur.
“I also saw the necklace.”
A director near the end of the table glanced down.
Perhaps everyone knew what necklace I meant.
“I had seen it in a store two months ago.”
Dana shifted slightly.
She had warned me not to speculate.
I stayed with what I knew.
“It was priced at one hundred ten thousand dollars.”
Gavin’s attorney said, “Retail display prices are not evidence of purchase price or payment source.”
“I agree.”
He seemed disappointed that I did.
“I’m not claiming I know how it was purchased.”
Gavin looked at me sharply.
I continued.
“I am saying I was told yesterday morning that our household could not cover approximately four hundred dollars for our daughter’s medication.”
The room changed again.
Not legally.
Humanly.
I almost regretted saying it.
Private humiliation was strange that way.
Once spoken, it could never return to the privacy that had protected the person causing it.
Gavin’s face hardened.
“That is not relevant.”
I looked at him.
“It is relevant to me.”
“This is a board meeting.”
“Yes.”
“And you are trying to turn our marriage into a performance.”
The irony nearly stunned me.
I heard someone inhale sharply.
I did not answer immediately.
Then I said, “You forgot to end the video call.”
Leonard looked down at the table.
Priya covered her mouth with two fingers.
Even Arthur’s face tightened.
Gavin stared at me.
For one second, hurt crossed his face.
Real hurt.
I hated that it affected me.
I hated even more that part of me recognized him as the man who used to fall asleep with one hand resting on my ankle because he said he slept better knowing I was there.
Marriage did not erase itself on command.
It rotted unevenly.
Arthur cleared his throat.
“We are moving to employment status.”
Gavin’s attorney rose again.
“We object to any termination decision before the forensic review is complete.”
Elise said, “We are not voting on termination today.”
Gavin looked relieved.
Then she continued.
“I recommend suspension without access to company systems, premises, staff, records, or expense accounts, effective immediately.”
His relief vanished.
“For how long?”
“Pending investigation.”
“You cannot cut me out of my own division.”
Arthur said, “You are not an owner of the division.”
The sentence landed harder than I expected.
Gavin’s eyes flicked toward me.
He knew what Arthur meant.
For years, Gavin had talked about Summit Crest as though the company were an extension of his body.
My team.
My floor.
My revenue.
My clients.
He had built real value there.
That was true too.
But possession had always been part of his vocabulary.
Priya asked, “What happens to his client portfolio?”
Elise answered.
“Interim management.”
Leonard frowned.
“Who?”
“Rachel Moss and Thomas Greer jointly.”
Gavin laughed in disbelief.
“Rachel?”
Arthur said, “Yes.”
“She has never managed accounts at my scale.”
“Then she will learn.”
“You’re going to hand my book to someone who reports to me?”
“Reported.”
Gavin sat very still.
The past tense reached him.
The vote took less than five minutes.
Nine in favor.
Two abstentions.
One opposed.
Gavin watched each hand rise.
When it was over, he looked at me.
I had not voted.
I did not yet hold the proxy.
That seemed to bother him more.
“You didn’t even have to do it yourself.”
His voice was low.
I knew what he meant.
He wanted me to be the executioner so he could call himself the victim.
“I didn’t.”
Security waited outside the boardroom while he collected his phone and wallet.
His attorney followed him.
At the door, Gavin stopped beside me.
“You think this makes you safe?”
Dana immediately stepped closer.
I looked at Gavin.
“What does that mean?”
His expression shifted.
Too late.
He had said it.
He glanced toward Dana.
May you like
“Financially.”
“Of course.”
