Chapter 2: The Provision
The memory vanished as Nora found herself once again kneeling in cold water beneath the conservatory chandeliers.
Evelyn Shaw stood beside her with the phone still pressed to her ear.
“Confirm the suspension in writing,” Evelyn said. “And notify every board member before midnight.”
She ended the call.
Grant’s polished expression had disappeared.
“What provision?” he demanded.
Evelyn slipped the phone into her purse.
“The Mercer Governance Provision.”
Celeste’s face lost its color.
Several guests leaned closer.
Grant looked around as though only then realizing how many people were watching.
“There is no such provision,” he said.
“There is,” Evelyn replied. “Your father signed it twenty-two years ago when his company transferred forty million dollars in restricted shares to the foundation.”
“That agreement expired.”
“The public pledge expired. The governance conditions did not.”
Celeste rose from her chair.
“Evelyn, this is not the place.”
“You made it the place when your son put his hands on one of my employees.”
Grant gestured toward Nora.
“She stole confidential financial material.”
Nora looked up sharply.
“I found an invoice.”
“You removed it from a restricted file.”
“It was inside the catering folder.”
“That is not what our records will show.”
Evelyn’s eyes narrowed.
“What records?”
Grant did not answer.
Evelyn helped Nora stand. The wet fabric of Nora’s gown clung heavily to her legs, and pain radiated through her arm where Grant had held her.
“Security,” Evelyn called.
Two guards moved through the crowd.
For the first time, Grant appeared uncertain whether they were coming for Nora or for him.
Evelyn addressed the taller guard.
“Mr. Mercer and Mrs. Mercer are not to leave the building until our legal department arrives.”
A murmur moved through the room.
Celeste gave a brittle laugh.
“You cannot detain us.”
“No,” Evelyn said. “But the Boston police can, if Nora chooses to report what happened.”
Every face turned toward Nora.
The attention felt almost as frightening as Grant’s hand.
Grant leaned close enough that only Nora and Evelyn could hear him.
“Think very carefully before you make yourself part of this.”
Nora looked at the bruise forming beneath his fingers’ impression.
“I think you already made me part of it.”
Grant’s eyes went flat.
Evelyn guided Nora toward a private corridor behind the stage.
Denise hurried toward them carrying a clean tablecloth and a pair of flat shoes.
“I saw the whole thing,” she whispered. “I’ll give a statement.”
Nora had barely taken the shoes when Peter Lowell, Shawbridge’s chief legal officer, appeared from the opposite direction.
He was a narrow-faced man in his early sixties, known for speaking as though every sentence had already been reviewed by a judge.
He held a tablet against his chest.
“We have a serious problem,” Peter said.
Evelyn glanced back at Grant.
“Only one?”
Peter turned the tablet around.
A security log filled the screen.
“The restricted finance archive was accessed at 4:42 this afternoon,” he said. “Several files were downloaded.”
Nora felt the cold from her wet dress spread through her body.
Peter tapped the highlighted line.
May you like
The user name displayed on the screen belonged to Nora Hayes.
“And according to the system,” he continued, “she used her employee credentials to do it.”
