PART 2: Millionaire Took His Mistress to a Luxury Island—Then Saw His Pregnant Wife Signing Papers Beside America’s Youngest Billionaire CEO6-019
Chapter 6
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A third division was negotiating an enterprise agreement.
Grace looked up.
“Ethan told me he barely knew Calloway used us.”
“Maybe he doesn’t.”
“He’s CEO.”
“Of a company with nineteen hundred employees.”
Grace leaned back.
“You’re defending him?”
“I’m defending facts. I dislike him personally at the moment.”
That earned another reluctant smile.
Priya pointed to a name in the approval column.
“Robert Landon.”
Ethan’s CFO.
“He approved all three.”
“Okay.”
“And Robert requested an internal valuation of Northlight last December.”
Grace stopped.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Ethan authorize it?”
“I assumed so.”
Grace stared at the screen.
December.
One month before she had formally returned to active work.
Two months before Pierce Global approached them.
“What kind of valuation?”
“Acquisition estimate.”
Grace’s stomach tightened for reasons unrelated to pregnancy.
“Calloway wanted to buy Northlight?”
“I don’t know that.”
“Why else request an acquisition estimate?”
Priya closed the laptop slightly.
“There could be ten reasons.”
“Name one.”
“Vendor risk.”
“Another.”
“Negotiation leverage.”
“Another.”
Priya sighed.
“An actual acquisition.”
Grace stood.
Her mind moved quickly.
Not toward betrayal.
Toward memory.
Christmas dinner.
Ethan asking casually whether Priya still ran Northlight.
A conversation in January when he asked if Grace had ever considered selling her shares.
She had thought he was making conversation.
“What did Ethan know?” Grace murmured.
Priya shook her head.
“That’s the question.”
Back in Boston, Ethan asked the same one.
Robert Landon sat across from him in Ethan’s office on Monday morning.
For twenty years, Robert had managed money with the emotional temperament of a man organizing silverware.
He disliked surprises.
He disliked disorder.
At the moment, he appeared to dislike Ethan.
“You left the retreat,” Robert said.
“Yes.”
“Without attending a single scheduled session.”
“Yes.”
“You also told us you were in New York.”
Ethan folded his hands.
“I did.”
Robert waited.
Ethan had built a career around controlling meetings.
Today he felt no desire to.
“I had an affair.”
Robert blinked once.
Then removed his glasses.
“With someone employed by this company?”
Ethan hesitated.
Robert closed his eyes.
“Oh, Ethan.”
Not Mr. Calloway.
Ethan.
They had worked together for twelve years.
“Vanessa Reed,” Ethan said.
Robert looked toward the window.
“Does Human Resources know?”
“No.”
“Has it ended?”
“Yes.”
“Did she report directly to you?”
“Not formally.”
“Did you influence her compensation?”
“Her department budget comes through the executive committee.”
Robert rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“Then we need outside employment counsel.”
“I know.”
“Vanessa should be protected from retaliation.”
“I agree.”
“And you need to remove yourself from every employment decision concerning her.”
“I already intend to.”
Robert regarded him.
“Intentions are no longer enough.”
The words hurt.
Ethan let them.
Robert put his glasses back on.
“Why did you call me in?”
“Northlight.”
Robert’s expression changed.
“What about it?”
“You ordered an acquisition valuation.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you asked me to.”
Ethan stared.
“When?”
“December seventh.”
“I did not.”
Robert leaned toward the desk.
“You absolutely did.”
“I barely knew Northlight’s position in our systems.”
“You knew enough.”
Robert rose and walked toward a cabinet.
He returned with a slim file.
Inside was a printed email.
Ethan recognized his own name at the top.
Robert—run numbers on Northlight. Quietly. Grace may want options eventually, and if the platform is as useful as Ops claims, I’d rather our competitors not own it.
Ethan read the message twice.
He remembered now.
Vaguely.
A late-night exchange with operations after a delayed shipment had been predicted by Northlight four days before the port notified them.
He had been impressed.
For perhaps twenty minutes.
Then another crisis displaced it.
“Did you contact them?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because two days later you told me to shelve it.”
Ethan looked up.
“I did?”
Robert produced another email.
Forget Northlight for now. Too complicated with Grace involved.
Ethan felt something sink inside him.
He remembered that too.
He had imagined an acquisition would create messy questions at home.
Would Grace think he was interfering?
Would she expect a larger valuation?
Would Priya resent him?
He had chosen not to have the conversation.
He had called that prudence.
Now it looked like something else.
Avoidance.
“Did Grace know?”
“No.”
“Did Priya?”
“Not from us.”
“Pierce approached independently?”
“As far as I know.”
Ethan sat back.
He had spent two days imagining that Grace had secretly built a business alliance with Declan Pierce while hiding it from him.
But she had told him.
He had forgotten.
Meanwhile he had secretly evaluated her company and then discarded the idea because discussing it with his own wife seemed inconvenient.
The pattern was becoming difficult to ignore.
He had treated Grace’s world like scenery until it intersected with his.
Vanessa returned to work on Tuesday.
May you like
At nine fifteen, she asked Human Resources for a meeting.
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