I let a second pass.
“Vanessa?”
He recovered quickly.
“The consultant.
Vanessa Mercer.
I told you about her.”
He hadn’t.
Not by name.
“Right,” I said.
Nathan returned to his coffee.
But his hand was gripping the mug too tightly.
Monday morning, I dressed for work as usual.
The emerald dress stayed in its box.
The cream card, alteration slip, and original paperwork traveled with me in a separate folder.
Nathan appeared in the kitchen wearing the navy suit he saved for important meetings.
“You signed?”
I picked up my keys.
“I reviewed it.”
His expression changed.
“That wasn’t my question.”
“Then ask me at the office.”
He stared at me.
“Why would I come to your office?”
“Because Vanessa is meeting us there at ten.”
Silence.
Nathan’s face became completely still.
“What?”
“I asked the consultant handling my pharmacies to attend a meeting about the authority she apparently needs.
That seems reasonable, doesn’t it?”
For the first time, Nathan didn’t have a casual answer ready.
“You contacted her?”
“My attorney did.”
His eyes snapped toward mine.
There it was again—that tiny collapse in confidence before he rebuilt the mask.
“Claire, you’re making this much more complicated than it needs to be.”
“Then ten o’clock should clear everything up.”
He followed me in his own car.
Vanessa arrived seven minutes late.
I recognized her before anyone introduced us.
Not because I had seen her face before.
Because she looked at Nathan first.
It was one glance, barely a second, but it contained the intimacy of two people accustomed to checking each other’s reactions before deciding what to say.
She was polished, controlled, and visibly uncomfortable when she saw me sitting beside my attorney instead of alone.
Nathan closed the conference-room door.
“This is unnecessary,” he said immediately.
My attorney ignored him.
He looked at Vanessa.
“Ms.
Mercer, before we discuss any proposed transaction, can you confirm whether you or your company currently possess a signed authorization from Claire allowing Mr.
Cole to negotiate on her behalf?”
Vanessa looked at Nathan again.
“I understood that authorization was being completed.”
“It hasn’t been,” I said.
Her attention moved to me.
I continued.
“And it won’t be.”
