Chapter 2
For three seconds, Daniel only stared at me.
Then he laughed.
It was the same laugh he used whenever he thought I had said something foolish.
“You think you can fire me?” he asked.
Vanessa tightened her hand around his arm.
“Claire, you are making yourself look ridiculous.”
I kept the phone to my ear.
Eleanor’s voice became calm and precise.
“Mrs. Mercer, I have the ethics committee chair and the chairman on a secure conference line. Shall I invoke the emergency conduct provision?”
“Yes,” I said.
Chairman Lang moved toward us so quickly that several people stepped aside.
Daniel finally looked uncertain.
“Robert?” he said. “What is this?”
Mr. Lang did not answer him.
He looked at me.
“Mrs. Mercer, we are deeply sorry for what occurred.”
Daniel’s face changed.
Not much.
But enough.
“You knew?” he asked the chairman.
Mr. Lang nodded.
“I knew Mrs. Mercer was the controlling trustee for Harlow Capital.”
The ballroom began to whisper.
Vanessa’s smile disappeared.
Daniel looked at me as if he had never seen me before.
“That can’t be right.”
I lowered my phone.
“Eighteen months ago, when Vantage Meridian nearly collapsed under debt, Harlow Capital helped stabilize it. My grandfather built that company from one small office and a loan no bank wanted to give him.”
Daniel shook his head.
“You are just trying to embarrass me.”
“No,” I said. “You did that yourself.”
Eleanor spoke through the phone again.
“Mr. Mercer’s director appointment was conditional upon completion of a conduct review. The board has voted to withdraw it. His employment is suspended pending investigation.”
Daniel’s champagne glass slipped from his hand.
It shattered across the marble floor.
Vanessa stepped away from him.
For the first time that night, she looked frightened.
Daniel turned to Chairman Lang.
“You can’t do this because of a private argument.”
Mr. Lang’s expression hardened.
“This was not a private argument. You publicly assaulted and humiliated your spouse at a company event. You also announced a relationship with an employee who reports directly to you.”
The words hit harder than the champagne had.
Daniel looked around the ballroom.
People who had applauded his promotion minutes earlier were now staring at him with disgust.
Some held their phones up openly.
The humiliation he meant for me had become his.
Security approached him.
Not me.
Daniel’s voice rose.
“Claire, tell them to stop.”
I looked at the wet fabric of my dress.
At the guests who had watched and said nothing.
At Vanessa, who had helped him turn betrayal into entertainment.
Then I looked at the man I had loved.
“You had six years to learn who I was,” I said. “You were too busy looking down on me.”
May you like
I turned and walked out of the ballroom.
No one escorted me.
