Arranged to the Don, Freed from the Lie novel · Chapter 23 of 24
Chapter 23: The First Board Meeting
On Monday morning, my name went on the door.
It was brass, and it sat beside his, on the wall outside the corner boardroom on the fortieth floor.
Helena Crowninshield Carraro. Chief Financial Officer.
I touched the E of Carraro with one finger, to be sure it would not come off.
"You're allowed to stare," Santino said behind me. "It's yours."
"I'm checking the spelling."
"Of course you are."
Seven men sat at the boardroom table, and one empty chair stood at the end.
Six of them were Carraro captains I had worked beside for three years.
The seventh was Santino's uncle, in the chair by the window, with his arms folded over a stomach he had been building since the nineties.
He was the one who had nodded on the lawn while the man from Providence talked.
I set a stack of bound binders on the table, one in front of each chair.
"Open books," I said. "Every account Carraro Holdings has, every dock, every lease. No second ledger, and no safe I haven't seen."
The captains opened them.
Pages turned. Somebody whistled softly.
"This is eleven years of statements," one said.
"Nineteen, on the shipping side. I had the back years pulled on Saturday."
The uncle did not open his.
"My late brother's house did not keep its affairs on paper for a woman to read," he said. "A Don's wife belongs at a Don's table. She does not sit at the board."
Nobody looked at Santino.
Nobody looked at me either.
They looked at the table, and I felt the room wait to see who would speak for me.
Santino said nothing.
He leaned against the windowsill with his arms folded, and he looked at me and waited too.
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