Chapter 5

I picked up a pen and marked the apartment balance as held.

I said, "Call off the engagement, stop the money, and settle the accounts. Is one of those three above your reading level?"

Nathan took a long breath.

"I handled last night badly. But you tore down the stage, you hit me, and you humiliated Joanna in front of everyone. This is already out of hand. If you pull the funding now, people will say the Young Family is crushing the Halls."

I capped the pen. "Then hold a press conference and cry. Tell them I wouldn't let you and Joanna move in together on the spot, and it broke your heart."

Somebody in the room couldn't hold back a cough.

Nathan went quiet for a moment after that, and his voice dropped.

"Joanna has been crying all morning. She thinks she ruined our engagement. Can you give her any room at all?"

I looked out the window.

The screen on the building across the street was running holiday ads about family, home, and holding on to the people nearby. The words were all very pretty.

Some of the people beside me weren't worth holding on to.

I said, "Nathan, if she's crying, go comfort her. If your company goes under and she's really that moved, she can stay and eat off the floor with you."

Nathan said, "Don't put that on Hall Corporation."

"I don't have to. You lit it yourself last night."

I hung up and turned the phone face down on the table.

Our legal director squared up his files.

"Ms. Young, we haven't released the first Westside payment yet. The contract has suspension clauses for reputational risk and serious misconduct by a partner. The apartment hasn't been registered jointly either, so the withdrawal is clean."

I nodded. "If they stall, we sue."

The head of marketing glanced at me. "Hall Corporation may put it out that we pulled funding without warning and put the project at risk."

"Let them." I opened another file. "Did you finish pulling the public footage from last night?"

My assistant handed me the tablet.

It held several videos that guests had taken.

Nathan led Joanna onto the stage and said he wanted to give her a place in the family. She wore my dress with tears in her eyes, lovely under the lights. People laughed and clapped, and Grace looked pleased.

I watched less than half a minute and closed it. "Don't release it yet."

My assistant looked surprised. "Ms. Young, opinion is already turning toward the Halls. People are saying you were too hard on them in public last night."

I opened my phone.

A few mutual acquaintances were already posting the kind of thing that names nobody.

[Some people are born with everything and still don't have one drop of kindness in them.]

[Thanksgiving night showed me what a rich girl's temper looks like. An ordinary girl can't afford to cross her.]

[Does a sponsored girl deserve to be humiliated?]

I didn't have to guess. The Hall Family had started moving.

I dropped the phone on the table. "Let them keep talking."

My assistant looked at me.

I said, "Nathan still thinks Joanna is pitiful, and the Halls still think I'm throwing a fit. So let them hold on to that a while longer. The tighter they hold, the more it hurts when they land."

The words had barely landed when fast footsteps came from outside the conference room.

The front desk came in with security, looking uncomfortable.

"Ms. Young, Mr. Hall is here. He says he has to see you today."

Nathan came faster than I expected.

Joanna was behind him when he pushed the door open.

She had changed into a pale gray knit dress, her face was white, and there were faint shadows under her eyes. She had cried profusely the night before, and her makeup was working hard on her fragile skin.

Nathan stood in the doorway, looked over the executives, and said coldly, "I want to talk to you alone."

I didn't move. "You'd love that."

His face darkened. "This is private business between us."

I pushed the suspension notice across the table.

I said, "You bring her into my company to argue about my money, and you call that private? Nathan, you've played the devoted man for Joanna so long that your head has shrunk to fit the part."

Joanna bit her lip and said softly, "Vivian, I came today to apologize to you in person. I really didn't know you were the one who set up that stage. I thought Nathan only wanted me to feel the holiday."

I looked up at her. "You didn't know the white dress was mine?"

Her fingers trembled.

I kept going. "You didn't know the bouquet was mine? You didn't know last night was my engagement party? You didn't know the host was about to call the bride up?"

Her face went white a shade at a time. "I..."

I looked at Nathan. "Did you hear that? There's a great deal she doesn't know. Take her in and have her head checked. Don't bill me for it. I don't fund that kind of charity."

Nathan's eyes held his anger down. "Acting like this only disappoints me more."

"Wonderful." I leaned back in my chair, smiling. "Your disappointment is worth less to me than your stock."

He looked like he might be sick.

Joanna's eyes reddened, and she took a step forward.

She said, "Vivian, you can say anything you want to me, but don't hurt Hall Corporation. Nathan has worked so long on this project, and he can't lose it. If it helps, I'll get down on the floor for you."

She started to bend her knees as she said it.

Security looked at me without meaning to.