Chapter 13 - The Offer
I did not go alone.
Ruth arranged the meeting in her office.
Everett objected.
Then he came anyway.
He looked tired.
For one dangerous second, that softened me.
I knew the lines beside his mouth.
I knew how he rubbed his thumb against his forefinger when he was worried.
Ten years of loving someone did not disappear because I finally understood him.
He sat across from me and put a document on the table.
“A clean separation.”
Ruth pulled it toward her.
Everett kept his eyes on me.
“You keep the apartment. I keep the company. We issue a joint statement saying things got out of hand.”
“And the guarantee?”
“A misunderstanding.”
“The threats?”
“You were threatening me too.”
“I asked people to preserve evidence.”
“You know what I mean.”
Ruth turned a page.
“This also requires Claire to support reinstating you.”
“Obviously.”
“And approve additional capital.”
“To stabilize the business.”
“How much?” I asked.
“Twelve million.”
I stared at him.
He leaned forward.
“Claire, listen. We can still fix this.”
“We?”
“The company. Our reputations.”
“You called me worthless.”
“I was angry.”
“You gave Vanessa our rocking chair.”
For the first time, he looked genuinely caught.
Then he exhaled.
“It was a chair.”
That sentence finished something the gala had left alive.
Not because of the wood or the fabric.
Because he still thought the value of anything depended on what it cost him.
Ruth closed the proposal.
“My client will not sign this.”
Everett ignored her.
“Vanessa is confused. She’s being influenced.”
“By her attorney?”
“By you.”
“I told her to get advice.”
“You’ve always needed to be the smartest person in the room.”
“No. I spent years pretending you were.”
His face hardened.
There he was.
The man beneath the flowers.
“If Harbor Point fails, that’s on you.”
“No,” I said. “Your choices are on you. What I do next is on me.”
He stood.
“Then do whatever makes you feel powerful.”
After he left, Ruth received the full recording.
We listened together.
My voice promised silence.
Then, several minutes later, Everett said, “The investment people don’t need to know you’re my wife, do they?”
My answer was immediate.
“They already know. Their review is independent. I can introduce you, Everett. I can’t make them approve a bad deal.”
The clip he released had removed that part.
Ruth stopped the recording.
“We can answer this.”
Before I could respond, Ben called.
His voice was strained.
“One of the Harbor Point contractors just suspended work.”
May you like
Workers were walking off the site.
And payroll was due Friday.
