Why Now
Chapter 03 - Why Now
Marcus took Sarah to the ladies’ lounge because it had a lock and no security cameras.
The room had pale wallpaper, velvet chairs, and a row of mirrors framed in brass.
Someone had left a lipstick-stained glass beside the sink.
Sarah stood under the brightest light while Marcus photographed her cheek.
“Turn left.”
“You sound like a police officer.”
“I invest in distressed assets. Same tone.”
She turned.
The red mark had already deepened near her jaw.
Marcus lowered the phone.
“How long?”
Sarah looked at him through the mirror.
“How long what?”
“Has Vivian been pressuring you?”
She touched the bracelet.
“Four months.”
“And Ethan?”
“He knew she wanted the proxy.”
“Did he know the terms?”
“Some.”
Marcus’s face tightened.
“Some.”
“He thought it was temporary.”
“It is five years.”
“The first version was two.”
“That makes it kind?”
“No.”
Sarah sat in the nearest chair.
The velvet smelled faintly of perfume and cleaning spray.
Marcus remained standing.
He had always been bad at staying still when worried.
“What did she say would happen if you refused?”
“Nothing direct.”
“Sarah.”
“She said Preston would lose everything.”
“His business?”
“Yes.”
“She said Ethan would blame me.”
“Does he?”
Sarah looked toward the door.
“I don’t know.”
Marcus took the chair across from her.
“Why didn’t you call?”
“Because you already hated them.”
“I did not hate them.”
“You called Ethan a decorative spine.”
“He stands upright and supports nothing.”
Sarah almost smiled.
Then her mouth twisted.
Marcus leaned forward.
“I am sorry.”
“For the joke?”
“For seeing part of this and deciding you would tell me when it got bad enough.”
Sarah rubbed her thumb across the bracelet clasp.
“It was always bad enough.”
The sentence came out before she planned it.
Marcus did not interrupt.
She looked down at her hands.
“Vivian didn’t start with the shares.”
“What did she start with?”
“Dinner seating. Holidays. Who we invited.”
She rubbed the bracelet clasp.
“What I wore to company functions.”
“And Ethan said?”
“Let’s not make it bigger.”
Marcus’s jaw shifted.
“She would criticize me in front of people, then call me sensitive if I answered.”
“Classic.”
“Do not turn her into a case study.”
“I’m trying not to turn her into a target.”
Sarah looked up.
“Marcus.”
“I know.”
His voice softened.
“I know you don’t need me to punish anyone.”
“No.”
“You need someone to believe you before the proof is organized.”
Her eyes burned.
That was the sentence.
Not Are you okay?
Not Why did you stay?
Just belief.
Her throat tightened.
“I kept thinking if I explained better…”
Marcus sat back.
Sarah covered her face.
The first sob came hard and embarrassing.
She bent forward and cried into both hands.
Not quietly.
Not elegantly.
The humiliation came after the pain.
Eighty people staring.
Ethan frozen.
Vivian’s folder still open to the signature page.
Marcus moved to the chair beside her.
He did not touch her until she leaned against him.
Then he put one arm around her shoulders.
“You don’t have to make this useful yet,” he said.
“I hate crying in club bathrooms.”
“This one is technically a lounge.”
“That helps.”
“I thought so.”
She laughed through the tears.
Marcus handed her a folded paper towel.
The expensive dispenser produced paper rough enough to sand wood.
Sarah wiped her face.
“I’m sorry.”
“Stop apologizing in rooms where you were hit.”
She looked at him.
Their father had said something similar when a teacher once accused Sarah of cheating because she finished a math test too quickly.
Do not apologize for making someone question their assumption.
Marcus had been there too.
He remembered the lessons even when Sarah tried to forget them.
After a while, her breathing steadied.
“Why now?” Marcus asked.
“The pressure?”
“Yes.”
“Vivian said Preston’s investors need stability.”
“What kind of investors?”
“I don’t know.”
“What is the company called?”
“Northline Grid.”
“I’ve heard of it.”
“Good?”
“No.”
Sarah sat straighter.
“What does that mean?”
“It means I heard the name in connection with bridge loans.”
“Is that bad?”
“Depends why the bridge exists and whether there is land on the other side.”
She touched the bracelet again.
“Preston said liquidity.”
“A voting proxy does not create liquidity.”
“I said that.”
“Then what did Vivian say?”
“That control creates confidence.”
Marcus frowned.
“Confidence in access.”
“To Bennett Consolidated?”
“Maybe.”
Sarah felt the question settle.
She had spent months arguing over whether she should sign.
Not once had she asked what Preston promised someone else.
“Why would his lenders care about my voting rights?” she asked.
“Because Bennett Consolidated has assets, credit, contracts, and a name that opens doors.”
“He cannot use any of that.”
“Not legally.”
Sarah looked toward the mirror.
The mark on her cheek remained.
The gold bracelet caught the light beneath it.
“What do we do?”
“First, you do nothing.”
“That is not helpful.”
“You do not sign. You do not meet Vivian alone. You do not answer unknown calls.”
“And you?”
“I find out why Preston needs family holdings mentioned in the same sentence as his failing business.”
“You think it is failing.”
“I think his mother slapped you in public over a proxy.”
Marcus stood.
“That is not what stable people do around stable balance sheets.”
---
They left through a side exit.
Rain had stopped, but water still dripped from the clubhouse roof.
Marcus’s car smelled of leather and cold coffee.
Sarah sat in the passenger seat with her shoes off and her feet tucked beneath her coat.
The parking lot lights made the wet pavement shine.
Marcus handed her a bottle of water.
“Do you want to go home?”
“No.”
“Hotel?”
“No.”
“My place?”
“Yes.”
He started the car.
Sarah looked back at Ashwood.
Security staff stood beneath the porte cochere.
Inside, Vivian’s anniversary dinner was ending without her.
Sarah felt no satisfaction.
Only distance.
Marcus drove toward the city.
“What did Dad say when he split the shares?” she asked.
“You remember.”
“I want to hear you say it.”
Marcus kept his eyes on the road.
“He said power gets stupid when it gets lonely.”
“And?”
“That you might see what I miss.”
“You hated that.”
“I was twenty-one.”
“You said I was a child.”
“You were a child.”
“He still trusted me.”
Marcus glanced at her.
“He still does.”
The use of present tense made her look away.
Traffic moved slowly near the bridge.
Her phone buzzed in her purse.
Ethan.
She did not answer.
A message appeared.
I’m sorry. Please tell me where you are.
Sarah read it.
Then another.
Mom says Preston could lose the company if the proxy issue becomes public.
Sarah handed the phone to Marcus.
He read both messages.
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“She is still tying the proxy to the company.”
“Maybe she is scared.”
“She is.”
“Of what?”
Marcus passed the phone back.
“That is what we find out.”
Sarah looked at the rain lines on the window.
Preston needed confidence.
Vivian needed her signature.
Ethan needed everyone calm.
No one had told Sarah what the shares were supposed to accomplish.
The slap had forced the question into the open.
“Why does Preston need that kind of control in the first place?” Marcus asked.
May you like
Sarah touched her father’s bracelet.
For the first time, she realized she had never received a straight answer.
