Chapter 18: The Cost

I went.

I stood at the back of the boardroom on the fortieth floor, by the glass.

I wore my gray work suit.

Twelve people sat around a table long enough to land a plane on.

Theron's father sat at the head of it with a single sheet of paper in front of him.

Theron sat at his right hand in a new suit, looking rested and cruel.

Cade came in last, and he did not look toward the glass.

"You asked for a vote," he said.

"I asked for a decision." His father laid a pen on the paper. "There are two items."

"Go on."

"First, this marriage is annulled by the end of the week. A lawyer is waiting downstairs."

Somebody at the table shifted.

"Second, your brother takes the chair at the end of the quarter."

"You take the seat beside him and hold your tongue."

"Why would I do that?"

"Because it keeps the family in one piece," his father said.

"A family business can survive a scandal. It cannot survive a war."

"It's a good offer," said a woman halfway down the table, softly.

"It is," Cade said. "It's the kind you make when you've already won."

He went around the table, and I watched him stop beside Theron's chair.

Theron smiled up at him.

"The marriage stays," Cade said.

"Then you leave the chair."

"Fine."

The word fell on the table.

His father's face didn't move.

"Think," he said. "You've run this company for nine years. You have built every floor of this building."

"I know what I built."

"You'll have nothing."

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