Part 5
“That Greyhaven does not discuss private agreements in corridors.”
“Does it?”
“The commercial partnership draft does. The engagement does not.”
Daniel’s marriage to Sloane had always carried more weight than either young person admitted. Russell planned to partner with Greyhaven on a luxury retreat and conference program. Daniel wanted the project because it would give him operational authority over a section of the estate and a title independent of his mother.
Beatrice wanted it because she considered the Vale name underused and underprofitable.
Elena had agreed because the east wing needed restoration and because Daniel had called the project the first thing in years that felt like his own.
She had mistaken possession for purpose.
“Pause every contract connected to the Mercer project,” Elena said.
Nora nodded.
“And call our counsel.”
“About the slap?”
“About everything.”
Nora studied her.
“Elena.”
“Yes?”
“Do not build a legal strategy before you ask Avery what she wants.”
Elena leaned back.
“You’re right.”
“I usually am before dinner.”
That time, the smile lasted longer.
Avery left Greyhaven twenty minutes later in the rear seat of a black sedan, wrapped in one of Miriam’s wool coats. She kept the ice pack against her head and did not look back at the ballroom windows.
Elena stood on the steps until the car disappeared beyond the line of bare sycamores.
Maryland winter had stripped the estate grounds of softness. The lawns fell away in disciplined green-brown terraces. Beyond them, the river reflected a sky the color of pewter.
Daniel’s car remained in the gravel court.
Elena returned inside.
She found him in the library pouring whiskey into a glass.
“You should not drink before you decide where you’re going,” she said.
He did not turn.
“I live here.”
“Tonight, you do not.”
He set the bottle down.
“Is this punishment?”
“It is distance.”
“From what?”
“From Avery.”
He faced her.
The mark on his cheek had faded at the edges. He looked young and furious, not much older than the boy who had once broken a window with a cricket ball and spent an hour insisting the wind had done it.
“You have always taken her side.”
“That is not true.”
“You paid for her university.”
“Thomas and I paid for yours too.”
“You gave her a job at the foundation.”
“She applied. The board hired her.”
“Because no one says no to you.”
“They say no to me often. You simply leave the room before it happens.”
Daniel laughed without amusement.
“You humiliated me in front of my fiancée’s family.”
“I did.”
“And you’re not even going to apologize?”
“I will apologize for hitting you.”
His expression shifted.
“But not yet,” Elena continued. “Not while you are using my wrongdoing to avoid your own.”
“You dragged Aunt Beatrice away like a criminal.”
“She assaulted someone.”
“She grabbed her hair.”
The words landed with their own ugliness.
Elena looked at him.
Daniel’s gaze dropped first.
“I’m not saying it was appropriate.”
“What are you saying?”
“That Avery knew exactly what she was doing by coming today with that report hanging over everyone.”
“The report arrived by courier.”
“She knew.”
“She was invited.”
“She should have stayed home.”
“Because Beatrice might attack her?”
“Because the luncheon was important.”
Elena walked to the window.
Below, staff members carried floral arrangements from the service entrance. White roses that had cost an unreasonable amount of money were being loaded back into a delivery van because no one wanted them in the house.
“Important to whom?” she asked.
“To me.”
There was finally something honest in his answer.
Elena turned.
Daniel gripped the edge of the drinks table.
“I have spent my entire life being introduced as your son,” he said. “At school, at the foundation, in every room. This project was mine. The Mercers respected me before today.”
“Did Avery’s medical privacy threaten the project?”
“The uncertainty did.”
“To Russell?”
“To everyone.”
“Or to Beatrice?”
Daniel did not answer.
Elena walked closer.
“What did she promise you?”
“Nothing.”
“What did she promise?”
He looked away.
Elena waited.
Daniel took a drink.
“She said she would persuade the family trustees to support transferring the east-wing lease into my management company.”
There it was.
Greyhaven’s ownership was Elena’s, but several adjoining parcels remained held in a complicated family trust created by Thomas’s grandfather. Beatrice controlled enough votes to delay development for years.
“And what did she ask in return?” Elena said.
“She didn’t ask for anything.”
“Daniel.”
“She wanted the luncheon to go well.”
“That is not a condition. That is a phrase.”
“She wanted Avery to clarify what happened.”
“Publicly?”
“If necessary.”
Elena felt a cold, precise anger settle behind her ribs.
“You gave Beatrice the clinic name because she offered you control of the east wing.”
“No. I gave her the name because she said she could handle it discreetly.”
“By calling Avery’s doctor.”
“I didn’t know she would do that.”
“What did you think she would do?”
Daniel spread his hands.
“Talk to her.”
“She did.”
He looked toward the whiskey.
Elena took the glass from his hand and set it down.
“Pack a bag.”
He stared at her.
“I am twenty-eight years old.”
“Then this should be within your abilities.”
“Where am I supposed to go?”
“You own an apartment in Baltimore.”
“It’s leased.”
“Stay at a hotel.”
“My cards are tied to the estate account.”
“Your personal cards are not.”
He flushed.
The truth was that Daniel’s life had been made smooth in a hundred invisible ways. He earned a salary from the foundation and management fees from estate projects, but Greyhaven paid for his car, travel, club membership, and many expenses he considered part of his position.
Elena had told herself the arrangement preserved family assets.
It had also preserved him from consequence.
“You’re cutting me off?” he asked.
“I am separating your personal life from estate resources while the board reviews your conduct.”
“What conduct? Sitting in a room?”
May you like
Elena looked at him.
“That is precisely the conduct.”
