Chapter 16
Mara turned off the television.
Nolan stood in the kitchen doorway.
“You heard?”
“Yes.”
“He's lying.”
“I know.”
“You don't have to say that automatically.”
“I didn't.”
She dried her hands.
“I read the evidence.”
Nolan nodded.
Then his phone rang.
Elliot.
They both looked at the screen.
“Answer it,” Mara said.
Nolan did.
“Elliot.”
Mara could hear only fragments.
Ungrateful.
Naive.
Your wife.
Embarrassing yourself.
Then Nolan's expression changed.
“What did you say?”
Silence.
His eyes went cold.
“Say her name again.”
Mara sighed.
“Nolan.”
He ignored her.
“No, Elliot. You wanted my attention. You have it.”
Mara took the phone from his hand.
“Hello, Elliot.”
Silence.
Then:
“So you're the waitress.”
Mara smiled.
“And you're the man who needed a twenty-nine-year-old to sign his dirty paperwork.”
Silence.
Nolan covered his mouth.
She pointed at him.
Don't.
Elliot recovered.
“You think you've discovered something about business?”
“No.”
Mara leaned against the counter.
“I discovered something about you.”
“And what's that?”
“You were a coward.”
Nolan's smile disappeared.
Elliot laughed.
“I built Pierce North.”
“No. You hid behind Nolan.”
“You know nothing about—”
“You wanted factories closed? You could have recommended it openly.”
Silence.
“You wanted workers cut? Put your name on the proposal.”
Elliot said nothing.
“But you didn't.”
Mara's voice remained calm.
“You falsified projections and buried documents because you knew the deals might collapse if people understood your intentions.”
“You're very confident for a waitress.”
“And you're very defensive for a retired man.”
Nolan turned away because he was going to laugh.
Mara continued.
“You didn't make hard decisions, Elliot.”
“You manipulated other people into making them for you.”
She paused.
“That's not courage.”
Then she hung up.
Nolan stared at her.
“What?”
“I love you.”
“I know.”
“That was extraordinary.”
“Take out the trash.”
“Yes, ma'am.”
Rebecca testified.
So did three former analysts.
Then two executives.
Internal emails corroborated the documents.
Elliot's reputation collapsed.
Several civil cases followed.
Regulators opened inquiries into disclosures connected to the old acquisitions.
Nolan cooperated.
Completely.
Even when attorneys warned that transparency could cost Pierce North hundreds of millions.
It did.
The company's valuation fell.
Headlines turned vicious.
Nolan lost nearly two billion dollars in personal wealth over six months.
One evening Mara found him staring at the financial news.
A red number occupied the screen.
She sat beside him.
“How much?”
“Today?”
“Yes.”
“Four hundred million.”
Mara winced.
“That seems inconvenient.”