No Preston.
No attorneys.
Richard had aged in twenty-four hours.
His usually immaculate hair was untidy.
His tie was crooked.
He sat across from me in the private conference room where I had once approved two hundred million dollars in infrastructure investments without Preston ever knowing I was in the building.
“Thank you for seeing me,” Richard said.
I nodded.
“You know why I’m here.”
“I assume this concerns the acquisition offer.”
His eyes sharpened.
“So you know about it.”
“Yes.”
“Did you arrange it?”
“No.”
That was important.
“I knew your board had explored strategic buyers months ago.”
“But Whitmore withdrawing created this crisis.”
“It exposed it.”
“You keep using that word.”
“Because it’s accurate.”
He leaned back.
“We have debt.”
“I know.”
“We expanded.”
“I know.”
“Because we had assurances.”
“From Preston?”
His mouth tightened.
There.
Another clue.
“What assurances did he give you?”
Richard looked away.
My stomach turned.
“Richard.”
He sighed.
“He said marriage would make our partnership with Whitmore permanent.”
I felt cold.
“Did he?”
“He said once you were married, the companies would effectively be family.”
“And you believed him.”
“I believed my son understood his fiancée.”
A bitter laugh escaped me.
“He didn’t understand my job title.”
Richard’s face hardened.
“This doesn’t have to become ugly.”
“It already did.”
“We can salvage this.”
“What do you want?”
“Restore the contracts.”
“No.”
“Just the active pipeline.”
“No.”
“Give us six months.”
“No.”
His patience cracked.
“Do you understand what happens if we sell?”
“Yes.”
“My grandfather founded this company.”
“I know.”
“My father built it.”
“I know.”
“I spent forty years protecting it.”
“And then you allowed your son to use my marriage as part of your corporate strategy.”
Richard flinched.
It was slight.
But real.
“I never told him to marry you for money.”
“No.”
I believed him.
“But when he told you my marriage would secure your company’s future, did you ask whether I knew?”
Silence.
That was the answer.
I stood.
Richard remained seated.
“I liked you,” I said.
His face changed.
“I defended you to my father.”
“Eleanor—”
