Chapter 21: The Seat

Ross had stood in the hall at four in the morning to report one thing.

"She read all of it, sir. The light in her window was on until three."

She had not called, and Weston had not expected her to.

On Wednesday at ten he walked into the boardroom of Vanderveer Group and took the empty seat with his name card on it.

Nine people sat around the table, and not one of them met his eyes.

His father sat at the head, grayer than he had been on Saturday.

Preston sat halfway down, with his hands folded in front of him and a bandage on one knuckle.

"Mr. Crane holds forty percent of our debt," a lawyer read from a sheet. "He has asked for one vote. Mr. Crane."

Weston did not stand.

"I bought the paper on Tuesday," he said. "I can call it in tomorrow, and this company is gone by Friday. I'm not going to."

Near the end of the table, a man sat back in his chair.

"I have two conditions. I will vote on them once, and then I will resign this seat."

"Weston," said Thurston.

"Condition one. Claire Winslow lent Preston Vanderveer ninety thousand dollars six years ago. He told this room it was a gift. It was a loan."

"He pays it back with his own money, not the company's, by Friday."

"I can't..." Preston began.

"You have the lake house in your name, and the shares your mother left you. The lawyers have looked."

Preston closed his mouth.

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