One Night Stand novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: The Boardroom

Mateo's POV

The boardroom on the fortieth floor has a table for twenty and a view of the whole city.

I have chaired meetings there for eleven years.

On Thursday morning I walked in and counted fourteen faces.

Nobody met my eyes, and I knew which way the count would go.

Preston sat at the foot of the table with his hands folded.

He rose when I came in.

"Mateo," he said warmly. "Thank you for coming. I want it on the record that I told them this was unnecessary."

"I'm sure you did."

"The directors have concerns. I share some of them."

"Which ones?"

He spread his hands.

"The press. The security breach on opening day. A child nobody knew about, living at your private address."

He paused.

"And a woman photographed leaving a lawyer's office at nine in the morning with tears on her face."

"She wasn't crying."

"The photograph says otherwise."

"Then the photograph is lying."

A director near the end coughed.

Preston sat down, still smiling, and I understood that he had rehearsed every word.

He did not raise his voice once.

He spoke for twelve minutes, gently, about the brand and the quarter.

He spoke about a family company run by a man who could not keep his own door shut.

Every sentence ended in a question.

I watched his hands.

I have known those hands since we were boys, and I have never once seen them shake.

I kept thinking about the Lantern Room.

I had not meant to.

It had been Preston who texted me that night, four years ago in February, at ten o'clock.

You're working too hard, cuz. Come out. First round's mine.

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