Chương 4
She had replied, Never mind.
Daniel put a hand against the edge of the sink.
“I remember.”
Emily nodded.
“That was me telling you.”
Ashley watched them with growing interest.
For the first time since Daniel arrived, she was not the center of the conflict.
It gave her room to breathe.
“You see?” she said. “You two have problems that have nothing to do with us.”
Daniel looked at her.
“That doesn’t make theft legal.”
“I didn’t steal from you.”
“The report disagrees.”
“The report was paid for by you.”
“Yes. That’s generally how audits work.”
Ashley’s eyes flashed.
“You think you’re funny?”
“No.”
Daniel sounded tired now.
“I think I should have done this three years ago.”
Margaret returned with a woman in a black pantsuit.
Daniel recognized Celeste Warner, the estate manager.
Celeste had worked for the Carters for thirteen years.
Her expression was controlled, but her mouth looked pinched.
“Daniel,” Margaret said, “Celeste has informed me that you instructed security to prevent any vehicle belonging to the family from leaving.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No. I told them not to release company-owned vehicles.”
Ashley stared at him.
“My Range Rover is mine.”
“It’s titled to Carter Hospitality.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“Yes, it is.”
Margaret stepped closer.
“You are humiliating your sister.”
Daniel’s eyes hardened.
“Interesting choice of word.”
Celeste looked at Emily.
Then quickly away.
Daniel caught it.
“Celeste.”
“Yes, Mr. Carter?”
“Did you know Emily was working in the kitchen?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
Margaret’s gaze snapped toward her.
Daniel noticed that too.
“Did she volunteer?”
Celeste swallowed.
“I was told she had.”
“By whom?”
Margaret spoke before Celeste could.
“This is unnecessary.”
Daniel did not look at her.
“Celeste?”
Celeste’s hands tightened around a tablet she carried.
“Miss Ashley.”
Ashley laughed sharply.
“Oh, come on.”
Daniel nodded.
“Thank you.”
Celeste remained where she was.
Something seemed to fight behind her face.
Emily had seen that look in employees before.
Fear arguing with conscience.
“Was there something else?” Daniel asked.
Celeste looked at Margaret.
Margaret’s expression contained a warning.
Celeste took a breath.
“Mrs. Carter asked me to remove Ms. Emily from the guest list for next month’s foundation luncheon.”
Emily blinked.
Margaret said, “Celeste.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Why?” Daniel asked.
Celeste looked at Emily this time.
“Because Mrs. Carter said there were concerns about Mrs. Carter’s behavior around confidential family matters.”
Daniel went very still.
Emily felt something inside her go cold.
“You were setting me up,” she said.
Margaret’s composure finally cracked.
“That is absurd.”
“You were going to tell people I was unstable.”
“I was trying to prevent family business from becoming gossip.”
“You were making me the gossip.”
Margaret turned to Daniel.
“She has been digging through your financial records.”
“They’re also her financial records.”
“Not corporate ones.”
Daniel straightened.
“She owns twelve percent of the holding company.”
Margaret’s face shifted.
Emily stared at him.
Ashley did too.
“What?” Ashley said.
Daniel closed his eyes briefly.
Another mistake.
Emily’s voice was barely audible.
“You never told me that.”
“I was going to.”
“When?”
He had no answer.
Ashley stared at Emily as if she had physically changed.
“Twelve percent?”
Daniel nodded.
“It vested after our fifth anniversary.”
“That was last month.”
“Yes.”
Margaret’s hand went to the gold bracelet at her wrist.
For the first time, Daniel looked at his mother with something close to understanding.
“You knew.”
Margaret said nothing.
Daniel stared at her.
“You knew the shares vested.”
“It was in the trust documents.”
“And you knew she could request internal financial records.”
Margaret’s silence was answer enough.
Ashley turned toward her mother.
“You said that didn’t matter.”
Margaret’s eyes snapped to her.
Daniel heard it.
Emily heard it.
Celeste heard it.
The whole room changed.
Daniel spoke slowly.
“What didn’t matter?”
Ashley’s lips parted.
Margaret said, “Not another word.”
Daniel laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“That may be the first useful thing anyone has said tonight.”
He picked up the forensic report.
“We’re done.”
Margaret’s voice sharpened.
“You cannot throw me out of a home I have lived in for thirty-one years.”
“I’m not.”
Daniel looked at Celeste.
“No one is being physically removed tonight unless there’s a safety problem. Mom can stay in the east wing. Ashley can stay in the guest suite. Their company access remains frozen. Company cars stay. No records leave the property.”
Ashley’s eyes narrowed.
“So your big dramatic threat about everyone leaving tonight lasted five minutes.”
Daniel looked at Emily.
Her face gave him the answer before he spoke.
“No,” he said. “I changed my mind about making decisions while angry.”
Ashley blinked.
It was such a small surrender that she did not know how to attack it.
Daniel turned to Celeste.
“Please make sure every staff member knows they’re paid for tonight whether the event ends early or not.”
Celeste nodded.
“And no one loses their job for anything they saw or heard.”
Another nod.
Margaret’s mouth tightened.
“You are treating this like a hostile takeover.”
Daniel put the audit inside his jacket.
“No. I know what a hostile takeover looks like.”
He picked up Emily’s dropped glove from the floor.
“This is worse.”
They left through the service entrance.
Daniel’s driver was waiting beneath the covered portico.
Emily stopped before the car.
“I don’t want him driving us.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Okay.”
“I want to drive.”
“Your hands—”
She turned.
He stopped himself.
“Okay.”
The keys to Emily’s Volvo were in her purse.
Daniel held out his hand.
She looked at it.
“I can carry the bag,” he said. “That’s all.”
After a second, she gave it to him.
They drove toward Boston in silence.
Emily kept both hands on the steering wheel even though the left one hurt.
Daniel sat beside her with the red velvet box on his knee.
He had taken it back only because she had no safe place to put it while driving.
Rain began halfway down Route 9.
May you like
Not much.
Enough to make the windshield shine.
