Chapter 15: The Vote

My father's name was on the Halcyon guarantor line, and I had not slept.

Nathan had called twice before dawn, and both times he said only, "I'm sorry."

Jasper had sat on the edge of the bed and let me say nothing for an hour.

Then I told them both I was going to the board.

If the family name was going to burn, I would not let the first fire be Preston's story.

The next afternoon I walked into the Ames Jewels boardroom through the front doors.

The security guards stepped back.

Two of them had worked the lobby for five years, and neither had ever looked at me twice.

Now they held the elevator.

Nathan's lawyer walked on my left with a leather case.

The editor from the magazine walked on my right with a flat wooden box under her arm.

Jasper walked behind us and did not say a word.

The long table held seven chairs.

The board chair, a silver-bearded man who had hired me as an intern, rose halfway and sat down again.

Preston sat at the head of the table in a black suit with his hands folded.

He had not slept.

Beside the window, in a straight-backed chair, Marguerite Ames sat with her pearls on and her eyes on nobody.

"Mrs. Ames," the chair said. "We were not told you were coming."

"I'm a shareholder of record," I said. "Under my own name. It's been in my file for five years, and nobody read it."

I put my hand on the back of the empty chair at the foot of the table and sat down in it.

"This is a closed meeting," Preston said evenly. "My wife is ill. She was in the hands of a man who has been telling her things."

"Preston," the chair began.

"I'd like to hear what she says," Marguerite said.

Everyone turned.

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