Chương 4
Eleanor stared at him.
There it was: not an excuse, but a grievance he had polished until it could carry the weight of betrayal.
“You could have left,” she said.
“I did not want to leave.”
“You wanted me and whatever she gave you.”
Adrian looked toward Serena. “It was not like that.”
Serena gave a tired laugh that contained no humor. “Please do not protect my dignity now.”
He rubbed his eyes. “I made mistakes.”
“A mistake is booking the wrong ballroom,” Eleanor said. “You created a second address.”
“The apartment existed before any of this.”
“You created a second life inside it.”
He looked down at his watch.
Eleanor followed his gaze. The ring remained beside it.
“Is the baby yours?” she asked.
“I believe so.”
Serena’s head lifted. “You believe so?”
Adrian looked at her. “You told me it was.”
“I have not been with anyone else.”
“I am not accusing you.”
“You just did.”
“I said we should confirm paternity before making legal decisions.”
Eleanor watched Serena’s hand return to her belly. The movement was not theatrical. It seemed instinctive, as though she were shielding the child from the sentence.
“When did you end the affair?” Eleanor asked.
Serena looked at Adrian.
“Three months ago,” he said.
“Six weeks ago,” she said at the same time.
The silence that followed seemed to press the candle flames lower.
Adrian turned to her. “We stopped sleeping together three months ago.”
“You stayed overnight six weeks ago.”
“Because you were having contractions.”
“You got into bed.”
“I slept beside you.”
“You kissed me.”
He looked away.
Eleanor felt the room tilt slightly. She reached for the table, then hated herself for needing it.
Serena’s eyes filled, but no tears fell. “I told him I would not continue after the baby was born. I told him he had to tell you before the wedding.”
“And he said?” Eleanor asked.
“That the Harbor Crown closing had to happen first. Then the engagement ceremony. Then your wedding. He said once he was legally part of the Vale family, he could acknowledge the baby without losing everything.”
Charles returned before Eleanor could ask what everything meant.
He entered with Miranda Shaw, the hotel group’s general counsel, a narrow-faced woman in her fifties who wore reading glasses on a cord and never attended family events unless paid to do so. She had changed from her dinner dress into a navy suit.
Eleanor looked at her father. “You called legal counsel.”
“I called someone capable of preventing further damage.”
“To whom?”
Charles ignored the question. “Miranda will speak with each of you separately.”
Serena looked frightened.
Adrian looked relieved.
Eleanor saw both reactions.
“No one speaks separately tonight,” she said.
Miranda placed a leather folder on the table. “Eleanor, I am sorry.”
“Are you here as my attorney?”
“I represent Vale Imperial Holdings.”
“Then you are not my attorney.”
“No.”
“Are you Serena’s?”
“No.”
“Adrian’s?”
“No.”
“Good. We understand one another.”
Charles sat. “There will be no public statements. The wedding will be described as postponed because of a private family matter.”
“The wedding is canceled.”
“Not tonight.”
Eleanor turned to him. “The ring is on the table.”
“The distinction matters.”
“To the stock price?”
“To seven thousand employees whose livelihoods are tied to this company.”
Adrian leaned forward. “Charles is right. We need time.”
Eleanor looked at him. “Do not use our employees as a shield.”
“I am not.”
“You have been living in company housing with a company employee while negotiating a transaction that would place you on the executive committee. You are holding the shield.”
Miranda removed her glasses. “We need to establish whether corporate resources were misused.”
“They were,” Serena said.
Everyone looked at her.
She opened her clutch again and took out a key card in a small paper sleeve. The Vale Imperial crest was printed at the top.
“Adrian gave me this,” she said. “He told me the apartment was part of his compensation.”
Miranda extended her hand. “May I see it?”
Serena hesitated.
Eleanor said, “You do not have to give it to the company’s lawyer tonight.”
Miranda looked at her. “That card may be relevant evidence.”
“Which is why Serena should speak to her own counsel first.”
Charles’s patience broke at the edges. “Do not turn this into a corporate prosecution before we understand the facts.”
“You brought the corporate lawyer.”
“To protect the company.”
“From the facts?”
“From reckless handling of them.”
Eleanor stood. “Serena, do you have somewhere safe to go?”
Serena nodded slowly. “My sister’s.”
“Do you need medical care?”
“No. I am fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“I have been sitting for too long. That is all.”
She tried to rise. Adrian moved as though to help, but Serena recoiled before he touched her. The expression on his face was brief and wounded, almost offended.
Eleanor walked around the table and offered her hand instead.
Serena accepted it.
Up close, Eleanor could see fatigue beneath the restrained makeup, a faint swelling at Serena’s ankles, and one loose strand of honey-brown hair stuck against her cheek. She smelled lightly of orange blossom, the same scent Eleanor had noticed on Adrian’s tuxedo after the Ellison fundraiser. At the time, he had said a guest spilled perfume near him.
The memory arrived without warning and left a bitter taste in her mouth.
Serena steadied herself. “I am sorry.”
Eleanor released her hand.
“I cannot do that part for you,” she said.
Serena nodded.
“But you are not going home alone.”
“I can call my sister.”
“Call her from upstairs. Natalie will stay with you until she arrives.”
Charles objected. “Serena should remain available.”
“She is not a detained suspect.”
“No one said she was.”
“You keep speaking as if the building belongs to you more than the people inside it do.”
May you like
“It does belong to the company.”
Eleanor looked around the ballroom her grandfather had restored, the chandeliers her mother had selected, the white roses beginning to lean toward the heat of the candles.
