Chương 6
“That sounds like you.”
“I’m very boring.”
“It’s one of your better qualities.”
Mara stared at him.
“Claire used to say that.”
He set the mug down.
His hand was shaking again.
This time he let it.
They spent the next hour going through what Claire had legally shared with Mara.
The consulting payments totaled a little over six million dollars across four years.
Not enough to cripple the Vale family.
Enough to send someone to prison if the companies were fraudulent.
At five seventeen, Ortiz called.
“We found your father’s ring.”
Alexander stood.
“Where?”
“Harrison says it disappeared from his home office approximately five weeks ago.”
“You said you found it.”
“I said we found information about it. He reported it missing to his insurance broker.”
Alexander stared at the wall.
“He made an insurance report?”
“His assistant did.”
“When?”
“Three weeks before Claire died.”
“So he really lost it.”
“Maybe.”
“You don’t believe him.”
“I believe there is a dated record showing someone in his office reported it missing.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“You’re learning.”
He almost told her he did not appreciate the lesson.
Instead he asked, “Why didn’t he tell me?”
“Ask him.”
Harrison agreed to meet the next morning at the offices of his personal attorney rather than the foundation.
That alone told Alexander something.
His father was afraid.
Harrison Vale was seventy-three and still carried himself as if rooms belonged to him before he entered them. Age had narrowed him but not softened him. His white hair was cut too precisely. His navy suit fit perfectly. A silver-topped cane rested against the conference table.
His right hand was bare except for his wedding ring.
Alexander looked at it.
Harrison noticed.
“Get it over with.”
“Where’s the ring?”
“I told you. Missing.”
“You told me you might have misplaced it.”
“I had not yet decided how much insanity I was willing to indulge over the phone.”
“Claire is dead.”
Harrison’s face tightened.
“Do not use her as a weapon against me.”
Alexander stared at him.
“You think that’s what I’m doing?”
“I think you haven’t slept.”
“There it is again.”
“What?”
“Everyone who wants me to stop asking questions tells me I’m tired.”
“You are tired.”
“I’m also asking questions.”
Harrison looked toward his attorney.
Alexander had insisted the lawyer stay. He did not want anyone later claiming the conversation had been different.
“When did you last see your ring?”
Harrison’s jaw worked.
“Mid-May.”
“Where?”
“My desk.”
“Who had access?”
“Half the civilized world, apparently.”
“Dad.”
“Staff. Owen. You. Claire. Mara at times. My assistant. Cleaning staff.”
“Did Claire know it was missing?”
Harrison looked away.
Alexander leaned forward.
“Did she?”
“Yes.”
The answer was quiet.
“Why?”
“Because she was there when I noticed.”
Alexander sat back.
“When?”
“May seventeenth.”
“What was she doing there?”
“Arguing with me.”
“About what?”
Harrison’s mouth hardened.
“The foundation.”
Alexander felt something settle into place.
“Tell me.”
“No.”
His father’s attorney murmured, “Harrison.”
“No.”
Alexander almost smiled.
Not because it was funny.
Because some part of him had expected this.
Even now.
Even with Claire in the ground.
His father still believed refusal was power.
Alexander stood.
“Then we’re done.”
“Sit down.”
“No.”
“Alexander.”
He walked toward the door.
Harrison’s cane struck the carpet.
“Sit down.”
Alexander turned.
His father was breathing harder.
The attorney looked worried.
Harrison lowered himself back into the chair.
“There was an internal financing arrangement,” he said.
Alexander remained standing.
“What kind?”
“A loan.”
“From the foundation?”
“Yes.”
“To whom?”
“One of the legacy operating companies.”
Alexander stared.
The foundation was tax-exempt and separately governed. Family operating companies did business with it only under strict rules.
“You loaned foundation money to Vale Textiles?”
Harrison said nothing.
“How much?”
“Eighteen point four.”
“Million.”
Harrison’s eyes flashed.
“Don’t be theatrical.”
Alexander laughed once.
It was ugly.
“My wife is dead, your ring was seen outside her room, and you’re telling me not to be theatrical about eighteen million dollars.”
“The mill employs eight hundred people.”
“That doesn’t make it legal.”
“I didn’t say it did.”
“Did the board approve it?”
Harrison looked at him.
Alexander understood.
His stomach turned.
“My signatures.”
“You signed the resolutions.”
“What did Owen tell me they were?”
Harrison’s attorney interrupted. “This conversation is approaching territory where I need to advise—”
“Quiet,” Harrison said.
The attorney’s face hardened.
For once, Harrison noticed he was not speaking to an employee.
He exhaled.
“Owen structured the transactions through intermediaries.”
“The three consulting companies.”
Harrison’s expression changed.
Small.
Enough.
“You know them.”
“I know of them.”
“Claire found them.”
“Yes.”
“And confronted you.”
“Yes.”
“What did you do?”
Harrison looked at the window.
Cars moved far below.
“I told her the mill would close if the loan were called.”
“What else?”
“I told her she did not understand the consequences.”
“Meaning?”
“She was prepared to send records to outside counsel.”
“What did you threaten her with?”
Harrison turned back.
“I did not threaten her.”
“Claire asked Mara about changing Ethan’s guardian.”
For the first time, genuine confusion crossed Harrison’s face.
“What?”
“She wanted your name removed.”
“That’s absurd.”
“Why would she do that?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said something.”
“I argued with her.”
“What did you say?”
Harrison’s hand tightened around the handle of the cane.
“People say things when they’re angry.”
Alexander felt his pulse in his jaw.
“What did you say?”
“I told her if she blew apart the foundation over something that could be repaired internally, I would make sure she never had influence over another Vale entity again.”
“And Ethan?”
Harrison looked down.
The truth was there.
Alexander’s voice became very quiet.
“What did you say about my son?”
“I said that if she intended to take him away from the family because she was angry with me, I would fight her.”
The room went silent.
Alexander crossed the distance between them before he knew he had moved.
May you like
He stopped at the edge of the table.
“You threatened my wife with a custody fight.”
