Chương 4
Eleanor picked up the transaction report. The figures sat in neat columns. Money always looked well behaved after it had been moved.
“Draft the notice,” she said.
“On what basis?”
“Potential unauthorized movement of company funds and undisclosed conflicts of interest.”
“You don’t have proof of the conflict.”
“I have a diamond charge.”
“On a family account.”
“And a transfer to a vendor David created.”
“That is not enough to accuse him of theft.”
“Then don’t use the word theft.”
Maya studied her face. “Are you asking me to protect the company or help you punish your husband?”
Eleanor’s fingers tightened around the papers.
“I don’t know yet.”
Maya waited.
Eleanor put the pages down. “Protect the company from both of us.”
That answer was useful.
Maya gathered the piles and left to call general counsel.
Eleanor remained alone in the office. The wedding ring was still in the console of the car, and its absence made her left hand feel lighter and more conspicuous. She found herself curling her fingers whenever someone passed the glass.
David arrived twenty minutes later.
He did not come through the lobby. His executive key still opened the private entrance beside the freight elevators, and he appeared outside Eleanor’s office without warning, wearing the same fitted black shirt he had worn at breakfast. The top two buttons were open. His silver watch caught the overhead light.
He entered and closed the door.
“You canceled San Francisco.”
“Yes.”
“Your client called me.”
“I moved the meeting.”
“You embarrassed me at a store.”
Eleanor looked at him. “That is what you came here to discuss?”
“I came here because our controller says you’re drafting an emergency suspension.”
“Who was she?”
David walked to the window. The river behind him was gray and broken by wakes.
“She’s a consultant.”
“What’s her name?”
“This is exactly why I didn’t want to do it on the phone.”
“Because you needed time to choose a name?”
His mouth hardened. “Marissa Vale.”
“What does she consult on?”
“Brand strategy.”
“For us?”
“For several companies.”
“Were you buying her a necklace?”
“I was showing it to her.”
“Why?”
“She knows luxury markets.”
Eleanor stared at him until he looked away.
“You could have done better than that,” she said.
“I don’t owe you a performance while you’re in this state.”
“What state?”
“You pulled onto a highway shoulder, froze every card we have, stopped corporate transfers, canceled a flight, and started trying to remove your own CFO within an hour.”
“My own husband.”
“That distinction seems important to you today.”
“It seems expensive.”
He turned from the window.
“The necklace was for you.”
She had expected the sentence. It still hurt.
“You just said Marissa was evaluating it.”
“She was helping me choose.”
“For our anniversary?”
“Yes.”
“Our anniversary is in February.”
“I planned ahead.”
“You have never planned a dinner reservation six months ahead.”
“That’s unfair.”
“What did the necklace look like?”
David’s eyes shifted almost imperceptibly toward the desk, as if an answer might be there.
“Diamonds.”
Eleanor waited.
“A graduated setting,” he said. “White gold.”
It was plausible. That was David’s gift, the ability to make the next sentence plausible even when the previous one had failed.
“Why did Marissa leave when the card declined?”
“How would I know?”
“You were there.”
“She was embarrassed.”
“Why?”
“Because you created a scene without entering the room.”
Eleanor felt something hot move through her chest. She kept her hands open on the desk.
“Tell me about Sable North.”
His face did not change, but his attention sharpened.
“It’s an acquisition advisory firm.”
“Owned by whom?”
“A group of principals.”
“Names.”
“I’m under confidentiality restrictions.”
“You moved six hundred thousand dollars to them.”
“The company paid invoices.”
“You scheduled another one point eight million.”
“That payment was part of a bridge arrangement.”
“For what acquisition?”
“I can’t discuss a confidential target until the board package is complete.”
“I am the chief executive officer.”
“And you have repeatedly said you do not want preliminary targets cluttering your schedule.”
“That is not permission to move millions without telling me.”
“You approved it.”
The words entered the room and stayed there.
David moved closer to the desk. His confidence had returned because he had found the fact he trusted most.
“You reviewed and authenticated the batch,” he said. “The bank has your biometric authorization. Maya has the logs. You can be furious about the boutique. You can decide our marriage is over before lunch. But you do not get to rewrite a corporate approval because you regret trusting me.”
“What is in Delaware?”
“A custodial account.”
“For whom?”
“The acquisition vehicle.”
“Controlled by whom?”
“The transaction team.”
“Names.”
“I told you, there are confidentiality restrictions.”
Eleanor stood.
David flinched before he could hide it. It was small, only a tightening at his shoulders, but she saw it.
“Get out of my office.”
“We need to call the bank together.”
“No.”
“The supplier freeze is already spreading. Three payments failed. If we trigger default notices because you’re angry—”
“Get out.”
“You don’t have authority to remove me from the company based on an argument about a necklace.”
“I have authority to remove you from this room.”
He looked at her left hand.
“Where is your ring?”
“In the car.”
For the first time that morning, David had no immediate answer.
He glanced toward the glass wall. Several employees were pretending not to watch.
“You’re making this public,” he said.
“You came through the executive entrance and walked into my office.”
“This is my office too.”
“No. Yours is down the hall.”
His face reddened at the edges. “Restore the accounts, Eleanor.”
“No.”
“You’re going to regret handling it this way.”
“That may be true.”
The answer disturbed him more than anger would have.
May you like
He opened the door and found Maya standing outside with Helen Cross, the company’s general counsel. Helen was sixty-one, silver-haired, and dressed as though every day might end in testimony.
“David,” Helen said, “do not access any company system until we speak privately.”
