Chapter 14 - What Ethan Signed
I did not look at Richard.
I looked at Ethan.
“What did you sign?”
His face had gone blank.
“Claire—”
“What did you sign?”
He swallowed.
“A confidentiality agreement.”
“About what?”
“My father asked me to review an investment prospectus.”
Richard closed his eyes.
I felt the air leave my lungs.
“Meridian?”
Ethan nodded.
Three weeks before he proposed.
My husband had seen confidential acquisition material involving my company and never told me.
I stepped back.
“You knew they were pursuing Meridian.”
“I knew they were evaluating it.”
“That is not what you told me.”
“I couldn’t tell you. I was under NDA.”
“You asked me to marry you.”
“I loved you.”
“And you let me believe our families’ business conflict was over.”
“I thought it was.”
“Based on what?”
“My mother told me the acquisition had been dropped.”
I stared at him.
“And you believed her?”
“At the time, yes.”
Richard said quietly, “Ethan did not know about the later plan.”
I turned on him.
“You don’t get to rescue him.”
Ethan flinched.
I hated that I was hurting him.
I hated more that the hurt was deserved.
Officer Brooks gave us privacy.
When the door closed, Ethan said, “I should have told you I had seen the prospectus.”
“Yes.”
“I was afraid you’d think the relationship was part of the deal.”
“Was it?”
“No.”
His answer came immediately.
I believed him.
But again, belief was no longer enough.
I took off my wedding ring.
Ethan stared at it in my palm.
“Claire.”
“I’m not ending anything right now.”
“Then why are you taking it off?”
“Because I need one hour where I am not making choices as your wife.”
His eyes filled.
I put the ring in my purse beside the safe deposit key.
Then I left.
At the bank, Officer Brooks met Rachel and me.
The manager opened the box.
Inside were six envelopes and a flash drive.
The first envelope held payment records to Dr. Hart.
The second contained draft proxy documents.
The third contained photographs of Neil meeting Martin.
The fourth contained something I did not expect.
A copy of Ethan’s confidentiality agreement.
Behind it was a handwritten note in Vivian’s writing:
Ethan is emotionally compromised. If he refuses, activate Plan B.
Rachel whispered, “Plan B is you.”
I reached for the fifth envelope.
Inside was a photograph of Vivian standing beside someone outside Meridian headquarters.
Not Neil.
Not Martin.
My own father.
May you like
And on the back, in Richard’s handwriting, were four words:
He knows more than Claire.
