Chương 15
“That still makes my forgiveness the reward.”
He absorbed that.
“What should the reward be?”
“Being better.”
The light changed.
They crossed.
The board’s report concluded that Michael and Amber had both violated company policy by failing to disclose their relationship. It also concluded that Michael had exercised poor judgment in removing Amber from the merger team after the hospital incident, though there was insufficient evidence to determine whether the action was retaliation or an attempt to protect the transaction.
Amber negotiated a departure with a settlement neither side disclosed.
Michael resigned as chief executive but retained his board seat and ownership interest.
Martin took over daily operations.
The Carson merger collapsed.
The company did not collapse with it.
There were layoffs, though fewer than the rumors predicted. Forty-three people lost their jobs during a restructuring that Martin claimed had been likely even if the deal succeeded.
Catherine read every name on the internal list.
One belonged to the receptionist whose husband had cancer.
She called Martin.
“You said the front office was protected.”
“I said we were trying.”
“She has worked there twelve years.”
“We cut entire functions.”
“Find her another position.”
“We don’t have one.”
“Create one.”
“That isn’t how responsible companies operate.”
Catherine almost laughed at the phrase responsible companies.
“You kept three vice presidents who approved the merger strategy.”
“They have contractual protections.”
“She has health insurance through the company.”
“So do forty-two others.”
Catherine looked at the trust documents on her desk.
“What would it cost to extend benefits and salary for six months?”
Martin named a number.
She wrote it down.
“I’ll fund it.”
“For her?”
“For everyone laid off.”
Silence.
“That is a significant amount of money,” Martin said.
“I know.”
“Michael won’t like you using trust income this way.”
“Michael does not control it.”
“This looks like an admission of fault.”
“It looks like people need time to find work.”
“You cannot solve every consequence with a check.”
“No. But I can solve this part.”
Martin sighed.
“You and Michael are more alike than you think.”
The comparison angered her because it was partly true.
She negotiated a transition fund through the family foundation, with contributions from the company and Michael personally. It did not save every employee from fear or humiliation. Some refused assistance. Some criticized the amount. One wrote a public post thanking Amber for exposing leadership misconduct and Catherine for acknowledging the workers who paid the price.
Public opinion shifted again.
Michael’s reputation did not vanish overnight. Some investors praised his resignation as accountability. Others called it surrender. Friends who once admired him divided into those who offered quiet support and those who stopped inviting him to dinner.
Catherine discovered how many people had always disliked Amber and how eagerly they converted that dislike into claims of moral foresight.
She also discovered how many people believed pregnancy entitled a husband to loneliness.
At a museum luncheon, a woman Catherine barely knew touched her arm and said, “Men panic before babies. It doesn’t always mean anything.”
Catherine looked at the woman’s hand until she removed it.
“It meant something to me,” she said.
The woman avoided her for the rest of lunch.
Amber requested a private meeting in June.
Catherine almost declined.
Ruth advised her not to discuss legal matters without counsel. Catherine agreed to meet only after Amber’s settlement was signed and only in a public café.
Amber arrived wearing black trousers, a white blouse, and no visible jewelry except her gold watch. Without the champagne dress, heels, and careful waves in her hair, she looked younger and more tired.
They sat near the window.
Neither ordered food.
Amber turned her coffee cup slowly between both hands.
“I’m moving to New York,” she said.
Catherine waited.
“I accepted a position with a hospitality group.”
“Congratulations.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“No.”
Amber nodded.
For a while, they watched pedestrians move along the sidewalk.
“I listened to the message again,” Amber said.
“The one you sent me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I wanted to hear whether I sounded as cruel as I remembered.”
“And?”
“Worse.”
Catherine looked at her.
Amber’s eyes were dry.
“I told myself you used pregnancy to control him,” she said. “Every time you called, he complained. Every time you needed him home, he said you were creating a crisis. I believed him because it made what I was doing easier.”
“He told different stories to both of us.”
“He told me you didn’t love him.”
“He told me you were obsessed with him.”
A small, bitter smile appeared on Amber’s face.
“He wasn’t entirely wrong about me.”
“He wasn’t entirely wrong about us either.”
Amber looked surprised.
Catherine did not elaborate. She had spent enough of her marriage turning complexity into protection for Michael. She would not turn it into absolution for Amber.
“Why did you record him?” she asked.
“At first? Because he denied promising me a promotion.”
“Did he promise it?”
“Yes. Then he said I misunderstood.”
“So you started keeping proof.”
“Yes.”
“Did you intend to use it against him?”
“Not when I made the first recording.”
“And later?”
“Yes.”
Catherine appreciated the lack of decoration.
Amber took a folded paper from her handbag.
“I wrote an apology.”
“I don’t want it.”
“I thought you might.”
“I don’t.”
Amber placed the paper on the table anyway.
Catherine left it there.
“I hated you,” Amber said.
“You didn’t know me.”
“I hated what you represented. The house. The name on the company. The way he answered when you called, even when he was angry. The fact that he would risk you but never fully release you.”
“That sounds like you hated him.”
“I did sometimes.”
“Did you love him?”
Amber looked out the window.
“Yes.”
Catherine believed her.
The truth no longer felt like a competition.
“Do you still?” she asked.
“I don’t know what part of him was real.”
“All of it.”
May you like
Amber looked back.
“The lies were real. The affection was real. The fear was real. The selfishness was real. People don’t become fake because they contradict themselves.”
