Chapter 10 - The Price of a Quiet Apology
Nicole requested a meeting in the hotel lounge. Nina refused to go alone. Priya came, along with Celeste as a neutral witness. Nicole arrived wearing a pale coat and the exhausted expression of a woman who wanted the whole event forgotten.
"You made me look ridiculous," Nicole said.
"You tried to slap me," Nina answered.
"I was upset. I can apologize for that."
"Then do it."
Nicole looked toward Priya. "I'm sorry I raised my hand. There."
She slid a thick envelope across the table. Inside was a proposed settlement: a cash payment to Nina in return for withdrawing her workplace complaint, surrendering copies of documents and making no statements about the gala.
"No," Nina said, without reading the final page.
Nicole's smile disappeared. "You could pay off your mother's medical bills. Your brother could leave that neighborhood."
Nina's mother had died the previous year. The bills were real. So was the anger she felt at hearing a stranger use them as a bargaining chip.
"Those debts don't give you the right to buy my silence."
"You think Sebastian will protect you? The first time the family shares fall, he'll forget your name."
"Maybe. But that won't make these numbers true."
Priya gathered the papers. "My client isn't accepting this. Any future communication goes through counsel."
Nicole stood. "You don't know what you've cost yourself."
"I know what Harbor House costs to run," Nina said. "You didn't even bother to learn that."
When Nicole left, Celeste released a breath. "I thought she was going to throw her drink."
Nina tried to smile, but her hands shook under the table.
At that moment Brandon called Priya. The independent auditor had found an electronic authorization, approved from Brandon's account, releasing the disputed funds to North Quay. Brandon had been in Chicago at the time.
"I did approve something that night," he said. "Nicole told me it was a routine vendor renewal."
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Priya asked him to forward the entire approval chain.
"There's worse," Brandon said. "The attachment I received isn't the document the bank received."
