Chương 6
“What am I supposed to do?” she asked.
Elise folded the paper wrapper from a tea bag into a narrow square.
“Decide which part of this you’re trying to save.”
The Mercer board call lasted thirty-two minutes.
Walter joined after all.
Simon sat beside him in the study, just outside the camera’s view, passing written answers when lenders, fiduciary obligations, or succession plans came up. Walter ignored most of them.
The directors did not mention Claire at first. They discussed the trust’s effect on voting rights, whether disclosure had been adequate, and whether Walter’s announcement could be interpreted as evidence that the transfer was motivated by personal instability rather than philanthropic planning.
Finally, Judith Sloan, the board’s lead independent director, removed her glasses.
“Walter, did you execute a multibillion-dollar asset transfer as part of a loyalty test?”
“No.”
Simon slid a note toward him.
Walter turned it facedown.
“The trust had been under discussion for two years,” he continued. “Its purpose is unchanged.”
“Was yesterday’s execution date selected because of the wedding?”
“It was selected because the documents were complete.”
Judith did not blink. “Did you tell the woman you intended to marry?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“That was personal.”
“It stopped being personal when you announced it in a ballroom containing our lenders, officers, and largest development partners.”
Walter felt Simon shift beside him.
Another director spoke. “We’re hearing that Ms. Harlow accessed company records without authorization.”
Walter looked toward Simon.
Simon nodded once.
“An internal review is ongoing,” Walter said.
“Who is conducting it?” Judith asked.
“Finance and information security.”
“Both report to Simon.”
“Yes.”
“Then it is not independent.”
Walter’s patience thinned. “Claire is not an employee.”
“She was an employee. She was also about to become your spouse. Now a video involving corporate assets is spreading worldwide, and rumors of unauthorized access are appearing from accounts that seem remarkably well informed.”
Simon stopped moving.
Judith leaned closer to her camera. “Someone is briefing against her. I want to know who.”
Walter looked at the list of participants. Most avoided his eyes, even through screens. The company had grown around his certainty for nearly five decades. People challenged him privately, carefully, and usually after arranging another job.
Now the challenge was public enough to feel almost clean.
“I’ll appoint outside counsel,” he said.
Simon wrote something quickly.
Walter did not look.
“And until the review is complete,” Judith said, “I believe you should temporarily delegate chair responsibilities.”
“No.”
“Walter.”
“No.”
“You made a governance decision the day before your wedding and used it in a public confrontation built around suspicions involving corporate records. You may be entirely right about Claire. That does not make your judgment unimpaired.”
Walter felt heat move beneath his collar.
“I have run this company since you were billing hours in a windowless office.”
“And tonight you’re confusing tenure with immunity.”
Nobody spoke.
Simon’s pen remained suspended above the page.
Walter closed his laptop.
The call continued for several seconds through the speakers before Simon muted it.
“That was a mistake,” Simon said.
“So was bringing Judith onto the board, according to you.”
“She wants your chair.”
“Everyone wants the chair until they sit in it.”
“This is not the time to indulge her.”
Walter looked at him. “You said there was nothing unusual about Bellwether.”
“There isn’t.”
“You reviewed it?”
“My team did.”
“In forty minutes?”
“We know the vendor.”
“You told me it was not a vendor.”
“A subcontractor.”
“Which contractor?”
Simon named one of Mercer’s construction management companies.
Walter picked up the study phone and called the company president at home. Simon’s face remained calm until the man answered.
After two minutes, Walter hung up.
“They terminated Bellwether in 2023,” he said.
“Yes.”
“They have not used it since.”
“Then the payments were likely assigned through another entity.”
“You said your team reviewed it.”
“They reviewed the vendor status. Not every historical payment.”
“You are becoming less precise each time I ask.”
Simon stood. “You are tired, humiliated, and angry. Claire has put a suspicion in front of you, and now every imperfect answer looks like proof.”
“Claire hasn’t put anything in front of me. She left.”
“She accessed restricted files and contacted Naomi Pike.”
Walter’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know that?”
Simon’s silence lasted half a second too long.
Walter rose slowly. His knee hurt, and the movement robbed the moment of whatever authority it might have had. He gripped the edge of the desk until the pain settled.
“How do you know Claire contacted Naomi?”
“I was informed.”
“By whom?”
“Walter—”
“By whom?”
Simon placed both hands on the back of the chair. “Naomi made inquiries to a former accounting employee. The employee contacted us.”
“What inquiries?”
“Bellwether. Other vendors.”
“When did you learn this?”
“Last week.”
“And you did not tell me.”
“I was trying to protect you before the wedding.”
Walter laughed once, without humor. “Everyone seems to have been protecting me.”
“Claire did not come to you.”
“Neither did you.”
“She was building a case.”
“Against whom?”
Simon’s eyes shifted toward the desk and back.
Walter saw it.
Not guilt. Calculation.
He had watched that expression across negotiating tables in New York, London, Dubai, and rooms where nobody admitted the building was on fire until the insurance lawyers arrived. It was the look of a man deciding which truth cost least.
Walter reached for his phone.
“Who are you calling?”
“Judith.”
“You just disconnected from the board.”
“I’m old, Simon. Not dead.”
“You need to consider what Claire’s involvement does to this.”
“What does it do?”
“If there are irregularities, her unauthorized access complicates the evidence. Her relationship with you creates motive. Her public humiliation creates another motive. Any allegation she makes now will look retaliatory.”
Walter held the phone but did not dial.
May you like
Simon softened his voice. “Let me handle the review. Quietly. Give me forty-eight hours.”
It was what Walter would have requested in Simon’s position. Time to identify the scope. Time to prevent panic. Time to understand whether the problem was theft, error, or accusation.
