Chương 5
“Did you?”
Margaret considered the question.
“I wanted Richard to stop protecting Adrian.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“No,” Margaret said. “But it is not entirely different.”
Mara sat opposite her. “Why did you believe me?”
“I did not. Not at first.”
The honesty stung more than Mara expected.
Margaret rubbed one bare foot against the other. “Adrian said you had become erratic after the engagement ended. He said you were threatening to expose confidential strategy because you could not accept that he had moved on.”
“I left him.”
“He said the decision was mutual.”
“It was not.”
“I know that now.”
“How?”
“Because he used the same phrases with me.”
Margaret looked toward the closed door.
“He told me I was emotional. He said I was risking employees because I asked why Celeste’s restructuring fees had tripled. He told me Richard was too ill to understand the urgency. Then he apologized and sent flowers.”
“White orchids?”
“Yes.”
Mara almost smiled. “He sent those when he thought roses would look guilty.”
Margaret’s mouth moved, but the smile did not fully form.
For several minutes they listened to staff clearing glasses in the ballroom.
The estate had once been a private residence. Vale Meridian converted it into a corporate retreat and event space after Adrian’s grandfather died. The family still occupied the upper rooms during holidays, which allowed them to describe company expenses as maintenance of an important business asset.
Mara had spent two Christmases there.
The first year, Adrian’s mother had complained that Mara’s black dress looked funereal. The second year, she had asked Mara to organize the seating chart because “you understand the employees better.”
Mara had done it.
She had been useful to the family long before she became dangerous to it.
At ten twenty-eight, Evelyn returned.
“The board voted to place Adrian on administrative leave from all executive duties, effective immediately.”
Margaret exhaled.
Mara felt nothing at first.
“Pending what?” she asked.
“A full independent investigation.”
“Who controls the company?”
“Richard remains chairman. An interim management committee will handle operations.”
“Celeste?”
“Her advisory authority is suspended with respect to the investigation and refinancing.”
“With respect to,” Mara repeated.
“Her firm still has contractual responsibilities that cannot be terminated tonight without review.”
“Can she access company systems?”
“Her access is being restricted.”
“Being?”
Evelyn’s patience thinned. “Technology staff are working through the accounts now.”
Margaret stood and put on her shoes. “Where is Adrian?”
“In the library with personal counsel.”
“He had a lawyer here?”
“Celeste contacted one.”
“Of course she did.”
Evelyn handed Mara a plain envelope. Inside was a written instruction to preserve all devices, communications, and documents related to Vale Meridian.
“You should retain your own attorney,” Evelyn said.
“I cannot afford the kind of attorney this requires.”
“We can provide a list of independent counsel.”
“Paid by whom?”
“That would need to be discussed.”
“Then they would not be independent.”
Evelyn did not disagree.
Margaret said, “I will pay.”
“No.”
“Mara.”
“No.”
“You are facing this because of my family.”
“I am facing this because of choices I made while working for your family.”
Margaret’s face tightened. “You do not have to punish yourself to prove you are honest.”
“And I do not have to owe another Vale.”
The words were harsher than Mara intended.
Margaret stepped back as though struck. Then she nodded.
“That is fair.”
Mara immediately wanted to take it back. Instead she put the preservation notice in her bag.
Outside, the rain had begun without anyone noticing.
A driver offered to take Mara home. She declined. Her car was parked beyond the east garden, where Margaret had told her to leave it so Adrian would not see it near the entrance.
The walk took six minutes.
Her heels sank into the damp gravel. Cold rain dotted the shoulders of her black gown. She carried the shoes by the time she reached the car.
She did not see Adrian until he spoke.
“You always did prefer an audience.”
He stood beneath the stone arch of the old carriage house, protected from the rain. His bow tie hung loose. Without the ballroom behind him, he looked younger and more tired, though not less dangerous.
Mara stopped ten feet away.
“Are you allowed to be out here?”
“I am not under arrest.”
“I did not say you were.”
“You arranged a secret transmission at my engagement party.”
“The board arranged it.”
“You agreed.”
“Yes.”
He stepped into the rain.
Water darkened his shoulders almost immediately. “Do you know what happens tomorrow?”
“Lawyers send emails.”
“The lenders panic.”
“They were already panicking.”
“Employees hear rumors. Hotel managers delay orders. Vendors tighten terms. Every person who depends on this company begins wondering whether we are still solvent.”
“Are you?”
His expression shifted.
That was the first real answer he gave her.
Mara set her shoes on the hood of the car and unlocked the door, but Adrian moved closer.
“I was trying to keep the company alive.”
“By transferring reserves into debt controlled by Celeste’s brother?”
His eyes narrowed.
“You knew,” Mara said.
“I knew North Quay had family connections.”
“You knew whose family.”
“I knew Celeste had access to capital when no one else did.”
“Through her brother.”
“Do you think banks rescue companies out of affection?”
“I think you lied about the terms.”
“I withheld incomplete information.”
“You told me Richard approved.”
“He would have if he understood the alternative.”
“You told me Margaret knew.”
“She knew we needed financing.”
“You told me payroll would fail if I did not sign.”
“It might have.”
“You showed me a schedule that said it would.”
“It was a projection.”
“It was fabricated.”
“I did not fabricate it.”
“But you used it.”
Adrian looked past her toward the dark garden. Rain ran down the side of his face.
For one second he seemed close to admitting something. Then self-protection returned.
“You signed.”
“Yes.”
May you like
The answer stopped him.
He had expected denial, perhaps because he needed her to deny it. Her guilt was useful only if she resisted it.
