Marcus Webb had been Victoria Harrington's chief counsel for 9 years, and in 9 years, he had learned to read the exact temperature of her voice, the way a sailor reads the sky. So, when she called him on a Saturday afternoon and asked for every document related to Adrien Cole and the board on a call by Monday, he didn't ask why. He asked one question. Victoria, he said carefully. Are you telling me the engagement is over or are you telling me something bigger than that?
Both, she said. Pull the documents, Marcus. All of them. And I want you to do it quietly. If Adrien gets a whiff that we're looking, he'll start covering ground, and I don't want to give him the weekend.
There was a long pause on the line. Nathan, standing in the parking lot with Lily, now clinging to his leg, watched Victoria's face and couldn't read it. There's something you should know, Marcus said finally. And I've wanted to say it for about 18 months, and every time I got close, you shut me down, so I let it go. And that was a mistake, and I'll own that.
But I'm going to say it now. He took a breath. Adrienne's involvement with the company was never as clean as he made it look. When you two got engaged and you brought him onto the advisory side, I flagged three things. You told me to drop it.
You said I was being paranoid. You said he was going to be your husband and I needed to trust him. Victoria closed her eyes. What three things, Marcus? Not on a cell phone in a parking lot, Marcus said.
But bring yourself in tomorrow, Sunday. Quiet building and Victoria. His voice softened and Nathan watched something flicker across her face. For what it's worth, I'm glad. Whatever changed your mind this weekend.
I've watched that man make you smaller for 2 years and I couldn't say a word about it because it wasn't my place and it's been killing me. So whatever happened, I'm glad. Victoria's throat worked. Something happened, she said quietly and she looked at Nathan when she said it. I'll tell you tomorrow or I won't.
But something happened. She hung up. She stood in the parking lot for a moment, the phone loose in her hand, and the fierce boardroom energy that had risen up in her cracked just slightly, and underneath it, Nathan could see how tired she was. How much this was costing her under all the steel. "Come on," he said gently.
"You heard the man. Nothing happens today. And there's a 7-year-old who needs lunch and a nap, and honestly, so do you. I don't nap. You drank a bottle of wine last night and you've been running on adrenaline and my terrible coffee since 6:00 a.m.