Chương 13
Instead, she looked at the window. The city beyond it was gray with early spring rain. On the building opposite, someone had placed a potted tree on a narrow balcony. Its branches were bare, and one blue plastic bag had caught near the top.
“I want him to admit what he did,” she said.
“He won’t.”
“I know.”
“I can testify.”
“That will cost you the company.”
“He is already trying to remove me.”
“You still have votes.”
“Some.”
“And if you testify publicly?”
“I lose more.”
Kesha watched the plastic bag tug against the branch.
“Would you do it if I accepted the settlement?” she asked.
Arthur was silent.
She turned.
He met her eyes. “I don’t know.”
The answer was disappointing.
It was also honest.
Kesha took the proposal home.
For two nights, she kept it in a locked drawer. She imagined signing. She imagined the children at sixteen, twenty-five, forty. She imagined a future illness, a failed company, an accident, a recession. She imagined explaining that she had refused money because accepting it would have allowed Richard to escape accountability.
Pride could disguise itself as principle. She knew that.
On the third night, Noah found her sitting at the kitchen island after midnight.
He opened the refrigerator, drank orange juice from the carton, and froze when he saw her watching.
“Use a glass.”
He took one from the cabinet.
“You’re awake,” Kesha said.
“So are you.”
“I’m an adult.”
“That doesn’t make it good.”
He poured the juice and sat across from her.
For several weeks, he had spoken to Arthur only when necessary. He still attended the meetings. He listened. He refused every invitation to play or talk privately.
Kesha did not force him.
“What are those?” he asked, looking at the papers.
“Legal documents.”
“About Arthur?”
“About his father.”
Noah drank his juice. “Is he still trying to say we’re lying?”
“In a way.”
“Why?”
“Because admitting the truth would cost him things he wants to keep.”
“What things?”
“Control. His position. His reputation.”
Noah considered this. “Arthur might lose those too.”
“Yes.”
“Because he told?”
“Yes.”
“Is that why he keeps coming?”
Kesha looked at her son. “What do you mean?”
“To show people he’s good.”
“I don’t know.”
Noah rotated the glass between his palms. “I think sometimes he comes because he wants us to like him.”
“That may be true.”
“And sometimes he comes because he said he would.”
“That may also be true.”
“Can both be true?”
“Yes.”
Noah frowned at the juice. “That’s annoying.”
“Most true things are.”
He looked at the documents again. “Do you have to decide something?”
“Yes.”
“Can you tell me?”
Kesha almost said he was too young. Instead, she explained that Richard had offered money in exchange for silence. She did not state the amount.
Noah listened without interrupting.
“Would he stop putting our names in the news?” he asked.
“He would agree not to speak about us. I do not know whether he would keep that agreement.”
“Arthur said Grandpa Richard doesn’t decide anymore.”
“He still decides some things.”
“Would Arthur get mad if you take it?”
“Probably.”
“Would you?”
“Would I what?”
“Get mad at yourself.”
The question went through every defense she had built.
Kesha looked down at the unsigned agreement.
“Yes,” she said.
Noah finished his juice and carried the glass to the sink.
“Then don’t,” he said.
“It is not that simple.”
“I know.”
He rinsed the glass badly, leaving orange pulp around the rim.
At the doorway, he turned.
“Arthur says doing the right thing can still be because you’re scared.”
“When did he say that?”
“Last week. You were talking to Dr. Chen.”
“What were you talking about?”
“I asked why he gave the papers to the company people.”
“And?”
“He said he was scared we’d hate him if he didn’t.”
Kesha waited.
Noah shrugged. “I told him I already did.”
“What did he say?”
“He said okay.”
Then Noah went upstairs.
Kesha remained at the island until the first light appeared behind the buildings.
In the morning, she rejected Richard’s offer.
She did not release the documents to the press. Instead, she submitted them through counsel to the independent investigation and agreed to testify before the board’s special committee. She insisted that records identifying the children remain sealed and that any public findings omit their names.
Richard responded by suing her for breach of confidentiality based on an agreement bearing her forged signature.
The lawsuit failed to silence her, but it increased the cost. Attorneys billed by the hour. Blue Arc’s insurers disputed whether the company’s policy covered any part of the conflict. Online commentators analyzed Kesha’s clothing, her business history, her children’s faces, and the helicopter.
One popular account claimed she had named Blue Arc after the butterfly motif she used to manipulate Arthur.
The company had been named for the color of the sky on the morning its first aircraft passed inspection.
Kesha considered correcting the claim, then decided anyone who believed a butterfly conspiracy would not be rescued by facts.
Arthur lost his position in April.
The Brooks board appointed an interim chief executive after Richard’s allies argued that Arthur’s personal conflict had compromised leadership. Richard did not regain the chairmanship, but he retained influence through family trusts and loyal directors.
Arthur arrived at the next therapy appointment ten minutes late.
It was the first time.
Noah watched the clock.
At eleven minutes, Arthur entered carrying his coat and breathing hard.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “The subway stopped between stations.”
“You take the subway?” Leo asked.
“Today I did.”
“What happened to your car?”
“I no longer have a company driver.”
Sophie’s eyebrows rose. “Because you got fired?”
Arthur sat down. “Yes.”
“Are you poor?”
“No.”
“Then it’s not really fired.”
Kesha expected him to defend himself.
Instead, Arthur nodded. “That is fair.”
Noah looked at the clock again. “You could have called.”
May you like
“My phone had no service underground.”
“You could have left earlier.”
