Claire and Nicholas After Divorce novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: The Group Chat

Brianna climbed the steps with her hands wrapped around her phone.

Gerald watched her come, and for the first time that night he looked afraid.

"Who is this?" he said. "Security."

"Let her speak," said the old director.

Brianna stopped at the microphone and bent it down to her height.

"My name is Brianna Kingsnorth," she said. "I told the shareholders that I was pregnant with my professor's baby. I wasn't. I never was."

The atrium went dead silent.

"Mr. Corbin's lawyers paid my tuition and promised me a recommendation. They wrote the speech, they chose the dress, and they walked me into that meeting."

"That's a lie," Gerald said.

"I kept everything."

She held up the phone.

Audrey crossed the stage and plugged a cable into it, and the giant screen over the atrium flickered.

The photograph from the Drake disappeared.

A column of text messages took its place, in letters six feet tall.

Gerald's lawyer: Mr. Corbin wants you on the podium before the vote. Cry when his daughter stands up.

Gerald's lawyer: Tuition paid. Stay at the Hartley, don't use your own name.

Brianna: What if they ask for a test?

Gerald's lawyer: They won't. Nobody makes a woman take a test in front of cameras.

A low sound spread through the room.

It was not a gasp.

It was six hundred people breathing out in disgust.

"There's more," Brianna said, and her voice shook. "The lawyer added me to a group by mistake. I wasn't supposed to read it."

Audrey tapped the phone.

The screen filled with an email thread, and halfway down it a line was highlighted in yellow.

Rival buyer's consulting fee to G. Corbin personally, payable on closing. Price to the board is nine hundred million below the independent valuation. Do not circulate.

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