Chapter 24: Closing Bell

Backstage at Market Desk, Nolan Stroud reached for her collar.

Dani let him.

His hands were steady and slow, the way they had been the last time.

That had been in the same dim corridor, a month ago.

"You're not my husband," she said.

It was the old line, and this time she said it softly.

"No," Nolan said, and smoothed the fabric flat. "Not yet."

She laughed, and the nerves went out of her.

"Five minutes, Ms. Kehoe," a stagehand called.

She took a breath.

Down the hall, her mother stood in her good coat.

Imogen stood on one side of her and Glenn on the other, and all three were pretending not to cry.

"Go," her mother said. "And don't say anything you wouldn't say at my table."

The studio lights hit her like a wall of heat.

The anchor sat across from her at the glass desk.

She was the same woman who had once read out a forged email on this very set.

She smiled with all her teeth.

"We're live," she said. "Welcome back to Closing Bell. Tonight, one guest, one hour, and the most talked-about woman in American business."

The camera pushed in.

"Dani Kehoe. Thank you for coming."

"Thanks for having me. Last time I didn't get to finish."

"I remember," the anchor said, and a few people in the dark behind the cameras laughed.

"First, the news," the anchor said. "Preston Halloway was charged this morning with forgery and fraud."

"Tatum Kensley has agreed to testify. Halloway Systems has entered a sale process. Do you have anything to say to him?"

"No," Dani said.

"Nothing?"

"I said everything I had to say on a stage. I'm not going to spend my hour on him."