Chương 4
Jasmine’s mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
The blood drained from her face so quickly that even Aaron noticed.
“What files, Jasmine?”
“I thought Daniel told you.”
“Told me what?”
She glanced at me.
That was her mistake.
Aaron followed her eyes.
His attention sharpened immediately.
“Alyssa.”
I said nothing.
He looked back at Jasmine.
“What did you just say?”
She swallowed.
“The consulting files.”
“What consulting files?”
“The ones from Mercer Strategic.”
Aaron’s expression did not change.
For two seconds, I thought he might genuinely have no idea.
Then his right hand curled.
Not much.
Just enough.
I had seen that gesture before.
He had made it when a regulator asked him about an undisclosed prototype accident three years earlier.
He knew.
Maybe not everything.
But he knew something.
Jasmine seemed to notice too.
“Mr. Prescott?”
“Go inside.”
“I was trying to explain—”
“Inside.”
She flinched.
The terminal door opened behind her, and two executives came out talking.
Aaron waited until they passed.
Then he turned to me.
“What did Miriam tell you?”
“That is an interesting question.”
“What did she tell you?”
“You first.”
His face hardened.
“This is company business.”
“My money is in your company.”
“Your family’s money.”
“Be careful.”
He laughed once.
“You think because a lawyer found some accounting issue, you understand my business now?”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“I think I understand your face.”
That landed.
Aaron looked away.
A ground crew member pushed a cart of bottled water past us.
One bottle tipped onto its side and rolled in a slow circle before settling against the cart rail.
Neither of us spoke until the cart was gone.
Then Aaron said, “Mercer Strategic has done advisory work for us.”
“How much?”
“I don’t carry vendor totals in my head.”
“Try.”
“A few hundred million over several years.”
“And you consider that a forgettable number?”
“We are a forty-billion-dollar company.”
“That was very Aaron of you.”
His eyes flashed.
“Don’t patronize me.”
“Who owns Mercer?”
The question was simple.
He answered too slowly.
“I don’t know their entire cap table.”
“Do you know Jasmine’s father owns it?”
Aaron’s gaze snapped to mine.
There it was.
Not surprise.
Calculation.
I felt sick.
“You knew.”
“I knew her family had an interest.”
“An interest?”
“Her father founded it.”
I laughed, but there was no humor in the sound.
“You hired the founder’s daughter as your secretary while transferring hundreds of millions to his company?”
“She is my executive assistant.”
“I am sure the title will matter enormously to investigators.”
His head jerked.
“Investigators?”
“You tell me.”
“No one has done anything illegal.”
“Then why do you look afraid?”
“I am not afraid.”
He was.
I had known Aaron when fear meant sleeping in his office and pretending caffeine could replace payroll.
I knew the way he became louder when he felt cornered.
I knew how he reorganized objects on tables.
I knew how his vocabulary suddenly became legalistic.
“I approved Mercer,” he said.
My stomach tightened.
“For what?”
“Strategic advisory work.”
“What work?”
“International expansion.”
“Which markets?”
“Several.”
“Name one.”
He looked at me with naked irritation.
“You do not get to cross-examine me on an airport ramp.”
“Then stop asking for my plane.”
His jaw went rigid.
For a second, neither of us moved.
Then his phone rang.
Daniel.
Aaron answered.
“Yes.”
The voice on the other end was loud enough that I caught fragments.
Board.
Emergency.
Audit committee.
Mercer.
Aaron turned away from me.
“I’m coming.”
He ended the call.
“The board is convening.”
“That sounds appropriate.”
He shoved the phone into his pocket.
“You did this.”
“The board deciding to examine hundreds of millions in undisclosed payments?”
“You triggered the patent review.”
“Your company triggered it.”
“You knew exactly what would happen.”
“I knew compliance had failed.”
“You could have called me.”
“I did.”
He frowned.
“What?”
“Three months ago.”
His expression shifted.
“I called you from Boston.”
“That was about dinner with your father.”
“No.”
The memory returned with unpleasant clarity.
I had been standing outside Massachusetts General after visiting my aunt.
Aaron had answered from a restaurant.
Music had thumped behind him.
I had told him Hawthorne compliance was requesting documents and that he needed to pay attention.
He had said, Handle it, babe, I’m in the middle of something.
“I told you the family office had sent repeated notices.”
“That is not the same as saying my company was in danger.”
“I said the words contractual default.”
“You use legal language all the time.”
“I am not your mother, Aaron.”
The sentence came out harsher than I intended.
He went still.
I continued anyway.
“I should not have to turn every warning into a bedtime story before you decide it matters.”
His eyes moved across my face.
For the first time all morning, something other than anger appeared there.
Hurt.
Small and almost boyish.
It would have broken me yesterday.
Today it only hurt.
“You always handled that side,” he said.
“I handled what?”
“The Hawthorne relationship.”
“The relationship with my own family?”
“Yes.”
“Because you refused to.”
“I was building the company.”
“And what exactly do you think I was doing?”
He had no answer.
The terminal doors opened again.
Daniel approached at a near jog.
He looked as if he had aged five years since leaving the aircraft.
“Aaron, we need you upstairs.”
“Give me a minute.”
“We do not have a minute.”
Daniel looked at me.
“I’m sorry, Alyssa.”
“For what?”
His lips pressed together.
“For not asking more questions.”
Aaron rounded on him.
“Not now.”
Daniel ignored him.
“The audit committee found a second issue.”
My chest tightened.
“What issue?”
Daniel looked at Aaron.
Aaron stared back.
Neither man spoke.
“Daniel.”
He rubbed his mouth again.
“The acquisition cash.”
“What about it?”
“It was supposed to be held in escrow.”
Aaron stepped between us.
“That is enough.”
Daniel’s voice rose.
“It is not there.”
May you like
The world around me seemed to contract.
Cars moved beyond the airport fence.
