Chapter 7
The next morning broke bright and beautiful.
The kind of Nashville August morning that makes you forget anything bad could ever happen.
The sun was shining. The birds were singing. The neighbors were out walking their dogs.
And inside the Miller house, the world was ending.
Karen showed up at seven a.m. with three assistants and enough coffee to fuel a small army.
She’d already seen the news.
“Good,” she said, when James told her his plan. “This is actually better. If we move fast, we can frame this as you stepping up to save the company your mother built. Not a takeover. A rescue. The board will eat it up. Half of them have been waiting for an excuse to get out from under Eleanor’s thumb anyway.”
She spread papers across the dining room table.
“Here’s how it goes. We call an emergency board meeting for noon. You present the evidence. Not to blackmail. To inform. You tell them you’ve discovered irregularities in the books dating back ten years. Irregularities your mother approved. That you’re prepared to turn everything over to the SEC unless the board votes immediately to remove Eleanor as CEO and name you in her place.”
James paled.
“That’s still blackmail.”
“It’s leverage,” Karen corrected. “There’s a difference. One gets you arrested. The other gets you a company.”
She turned to me.
“Claire, I need you to go to the hospital.”
I blinked.
“Me? Why?”
“Eleanor has a second in command. A man named Richard Hale. He’s been with her twenty-five years. He knows where all the bodies are buried. And he’s currently sitting at her bedside waiting to see if she dies so he can take the company himself.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because he called me at six a.m. Offered me a seven-figure bonus to throw James under the bus. I told him I’d think about it.”
I stared at her.
“You’re good.”
She smiled.
“Darling, I’m the best. Now here’s the plan. You go to the hospital. You walk into Eleanor’s room. You make sure Richard sees you. You look sad. Concerned. The grieving almost-daughter-in-law. Then you find a reason to get him alone. You tell him Karen is thinking about taking his offer. That James is a mess. That he’s probably going to step down. Make him feel safe. Make him think he’s won.”
“And then?”
“And then, while he’s distracted, I get the votes. By the time he figures out he’s been played, James is already CEO.”
I looked at James.
He looked terrified.
“Are you sure about this?” I asked him.
He thought about it.
Looked down the hall at the kids’ bedroom.
Mia and Ethan were still asleep.
Dreaming whatever seven- and five-year-olds dream about.
“I’m sure,” he said.
I got to the hospital at eight-thirty.
Eleanor’s room was on the VIP floor. The kind with private nurses and floor-to-ceiling windows and leather chairs that cost more than my first car.
Richard Hale was there.
Exactly as Karen said.
He was sitting by the bed. In an expensive suit. Holding Eleanor’s hand. Looking for all the world like the most loyal friend in the world.
He stood up when I walked in.
“Claire. I heard what happened. At the wedding. All of it. I’m so sorry.”
He was good.
Really good.
I let my face crumple.
Let the tears come.
They weren’t entirely fake.
“Thank you, Richard. It’s just… all of it is so terrible. First the wedding. Then Eleanor. I don’t know how much more James can take.”
Richard’s eyes sharpened. Just a little.
“How is James holding up?”
“Not well,” I said. I walked to the bed. Looked at Eleanor. Tubes everywhere. Machines beeping. Her face was peaceful. Like she was finally sleeping without having to plan someone’s destruction. “He blames himself. For all of it. He’s talking about… stepping away. From everything. The company. All of it.”
Richard tried to hide his smile.
He failed.
“That’s… unfortunate. The company needs strong leadership right now. With Eleanor like this…”
He trailed off.
Let me fill in the blanks.
I nodded.
“I know. He said Richard would know what to do. That you’ve been there forever. That you’re the only one he trusts to keep things going.”
The smile broke through.
“Did he?”
“Uh-huh. He was going to call you this morning. But then the kids needed him and… well. You know James.”
I sat down in the other chair.
“Can I tell you something? In confidence?”
“Of course.”
I leaned forward.
“Karen called me last night. She said she has a plan. That she’s going to use some… documents… to make James take over. Even if he doesn’t want to. She said if he won’t do it, she’ll go to the press with everything Eleanor did. Ruin the family name completely.”
Richard’s face hardened.
“She wouldn’t.”
“She would. She’s furious about Sarah and the kids. She thinks Eleanor got what she deserved. I’m scared, Richard. I don’t want to see everything the Millers built destroyed because of a lawyer’s vendetta.”
I reached out.
Touched his arm.
“James told me you’re the only one who can stop her. That if anyone can keep this family from tearing itself apart, it’s you.”
He puffed up like a peacock.
Men were so easy.
“I’ll handle Karen,” he said. “Don’t you worry. I’ll call her right now. Tell her we’re making a deal. That James will get a generous settlement. A seat on the board. But Richard Hale runs the company. That’s the only way to keep the peace.”
He stood up.
Pulled out his phone.
“Excuse me. I need to make this call before she does something stupid.”
He walked out into the hall.
I waited until I heard his voice rise.
Then I pulled my own phone out.
Texted Karen one word.
Hooked.
I left the hospital an hour later.
Richard was still on the phone in the hall. Arguing with Karen. Who was, I knew, stringing him along beautifully.
I drove to the office.
The Miller building downtown.
I’d been there a hundred times before. For galas. For dinners. For the occasional lunch with James when he was too busy to leave.
I’d never seen it like this.
The lobby was full of reporters.
Cameras. Microphones.
They saw me get out of my car.
Surged forward.
“Claire! Claire, was it true about the children?”
“Did you know Eleanor was suicidal?”
“Are you and James back together?”
I kept my head down.
Walked fast.
The security guards pulled me through the doors just as someone shoved a microphone in my face.
The elevator ride up to the top floor was the longest thirty seconds of my life.
The doors opened.
Karen was waiting.
“Perfect timing,” she said. “The board is in there. Richard just got off the phone with me five minutes ago. He thinks he’s won. He told me James is stepping down. That he’s going to be the new CEO by the end of the day.”
She grinned.
“He has no idea.”
She opened the boardroom door.
James was sitting at the head of the table.
He looked different.
Stronger.
The suit he’d worn to the wedding was gone. Replaced with a crisp navy one. His hair was combed. His face was set.
The eight members of the board looked up as we walked in.
Richard was sitting at James’s right hand.
Smug.
Confident.
“James,” Richard said. “Good. You’re here. I was just telling the board about your decision. About how you feel you need to step away from the company to focus on your family during this difficult time.”
He smiled.
“I think I speak for everyone when I say we completely understand. And we’re more than prepared to step in and keep things running while you—”
“I’m not stepping down,” James said.
The smile froze on Richard’s face.
“Excuse me?”
“I said, I’m not stepping down.”
James stood up.
Picked up the thick envelope Karen had given him.
Slid it across the table to each board member in turn.
“What I am doing is presenting evidence of ten years of financial mismanagement. Approved and directed by my mother. Payments to shell companies. Offshore accounts. Deductions that would make an IRS auditor cry.”
The room erupted.
Board members grabbed the envelopes.
Started flipping through.
Mouths falling open.
Richard went white.
“James—you can’t—this is—”
“Blackmail?” James finished for him. “No. It’s the truth. And you knew about all of it, didn’t you, Richard? Every payment. Every fake invoice. You were right there with her the whole time.”
He leaned forward.
“Here’s what’s going to happen. In five minutes, we’re going to take a vote. Either you vote to remove Eleanor as CEO, remove Richard as COO, and name me the sole head of this company. Or I call the SEC. I hand over every document in this room. And every single one of you spends the next three years explaining to a grand jury why you didn’t notice that twenty million dollars had vanished.”
He looked around the table.
“Which is it going to be?”
No one spoke.
Then the oldest board member—Eleanor’s oldest friend—slowly raised his hand.
“I vote yes.”
One by one.
Every hand went up.
Richard sat there.
Stunned.
Defeated.
May you like
Karen leaned over to me.
“Told you I was the best.”
