Claire and Nicholas After Divorce novel · Chapter 19 of 24

Chapter 19: Only One of You

Six hundred heads turned.

The photograph hung over the atrium for a long moment, and then somebody switched it off.

Nicholas kept walking, with my arm through his.

The crowd opened ahead of us, and closed again behind.

I heard the whispers run along the line.

"That's the ex-husband."

"She took him back already?"

"She's the one who lied about her name."

My father came to meet us at the foot of the stage, and kissed my cheek for the cameras.

"You came," he said softly. "I did hope you would."

"I'm the chair."

"For another forty minutes."

He went up the steps and took the microphone.

The room hushed at once.

Thirty years of habit did that to them.

"Friends," Gerald said. "Thank you for celebrating forty years with me."

He spoke for five minutes.

He thanked the staff and the founders and the loyal customers.

He did not mention my mother.

Then he lowered his voice.

"I would like to turn to a painful matter, and I ask your patience. My daughter is here tonight. I love her. And I am obliged to tell you the board has lost confidence in her."

A murmur went through the crowd.

"She hid her name for her whole adult life. She hid her fortune. She hid her family from her own husband, who is here, and who she then, forgive me, took to a hotel."

Someone laughed, and someone else hissed.

"I do not know if there's a place in a family business for a woman who lies so easily."

He held out a hand.

"Mr. Linden. Since you are here. Did my daughter deceive you?"

Every light turned toward Nicholas.

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