Chapter 18: Maia Takes the Meeting

Maia's POV

Mr. Vanstone did not ask me to sit this time, and I did not ask him to.

"Your daughter's ex-fiancé is telling the city I took your money," I said. "You can end that with one sentence."

"Mrs. Schrader, I have already instructed my people to say so."

"Say it to a camera. Say it yourself."

He studied me over the desk.

"You are asking me to defend you."

"I'm asking you to tell the truth. It's cheaper."

Something almost touched the corner of his mouth.

"Dalton Rhodes has not been my guest in six weeks," he said. "He is not why I called you in the first place."

"He's why my patients are cancelling."

"Then perhaps you'd like to hear what he intends on Friday."

The office door opened without a knock.

Delaney came in with a brown envelope and her hair tied back.

She looked at me, then at her father.

"Dad," she said. "I have to tell you something you're going to hate."

I should have left.

I stayed because she had the courage to say it with me in the room.

She laid the envelope on the blotter and told him about the proxy.

She told him about the eighteen percent, and the June signature, and the cousin Dalton was working on.

Her father didn't move while she spoke.

When she finished, he took off his glasses and set them on the desk.

"Eighteen percent," he said.

"Yes."

"Which I thought was in a trust you couldn't touch."

"It was in a trust I could touch if I signed."

"I see."

He sounded older than I'd ever heard him.

"I was an idiot," Delaney said. "I'm saying it before you do."

Keep reading free with an account. Start System Erased Her From My Memory from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.