“Every dollar was secured.”
“By what?” Nora asked.
“Assets you would not understand.”
Miriam answered for her.
“The collateral appears to be other Caldwell-controlled entities.
Several are insolvent.”
Preston’s phone rang again.
This time the name on the screen changed his expression completely.
His father was calling.
Preston rejected the call.
Almost immediately, a message appeared.
Nora could not read it, but she watched the color drain from his face.
“You need to leave with me now,” he told her.
“No.”
“Nora, this is bigger than our marriage.”
“You made our marriage part of it when you used my name.”
“You don’t know who gets hurt if this becomes public.
Employees.
Investors.
Families.
You think you are protecting yourself, but you could destroy thousands of people.”
There it was—the last refuge of a powerful man facing consequences.
He had made the decisions.
He had hidden the transfers.
He had forged the authorizations.
Now he wanted Nora to carry responsibility for whatever happened when the truth emerged.
She opened her clutch and placed her phone beside the folder.
A red light glowed near the microphone.
Preston stared at it.
“Are you recording me?”
“Yes.”
He stepped back as though she had struck him.
Miriam rose.
“The preservation order is active.
Do not access company systems, contact IT personnel, or instruct anyone to alter records.”
“You cannot order me to do anything.”
“No,” Miriam said.
“But the board can.
You have been placed on administrative leave pending an emergency review.”
The restaurant became so quiet that Nora could hear rain tapping the windows.
Preston looked toward the entrance.
His security men waited outside, but they were company employees.
Within minutes, they would receive instructions from someone other than him.
His authority had not vanished completely.
It had simply stopped being absolute.
“This is your fault,” he told Nora.
She looked at the pregnancy test between them.
“No, Preston.
This is the first thing tonight that isn’t.”
He left without another word.
The security men hesitated when he passed them.
One followed.
The other remained beneath the awning, speaking urgently into his phone.
Nora watched Preston disappear into a black sedan.
Only then did her hands begin to shake.
The hostess brought a fresh cup of tea without being asked.
