The request violated the spirit of the trust even if lawyers could debate its language.
“Then we investigate the bids,” Miriam said.
“Properly.”
“Yes,” Simon replied.
“And we let Hannah decide what she wants from the restaurant.”
Chapter 7: The Twelve Letters
The next morning, all twelve bidders received letters explaining that the auction would be postponed pending renewed review of access obligations and bidder disclosures.
The letters did not mention Hannah by name.
Charles had expected a public accusation he could deny.
Instead, he received a request for records he had hoped would never be examined together.
At his office overlooking the harbor, he called Adrian Pike.
“What exactly did you tell the old man?” Charles demanded.
“I told him we had standards.”
“Did you mention me?”
“You were sitting three feet away.”
Charles ended the call.
He had been assembling the consortium for eleven months.
His firm had persuaded each partner that the twelve parcels would be valuable individually but far more profitable if controlled together.
Some partners had been promised independent bids.
Others had been promised that Charles would use his influence to ensure they faced little competition.
Those promises could not all be true.
Celia Fane arrived without an appointment.
She carried the original copy of the investor memorandum, its pages marked with notes in red pencil.
“You told me the public walkway stayed open,” she said.
“It will.”
“Your revised map puts it behind a gate.”
Charles held out his hand for the document.
Celia kept it.
“And your schedule lists a different purchase price than the one you showed Beatrice.”
Charles felt a cold weight settle in his stomach.
“You don’t understand the financing.”
“Then explain it while I still want to hear you.”
For the first time, Charles considered that the canceled auction might be the least of his problems.
Chapter 8: No Special Treatment
Eleanor Price called Hannah at nine that morning.
She offered to reinstate her with back pay and an apology.
Hannah listened from the kitchen while Noah washed a coffee mug.
“Will Adrian still be my manager?” she asked.
Eleanor paused.
“His conduct is under review.”
“Then I need to know what that means before I return.”
“We can discuss it in person.”
Hannah agreed to a meeting but refused to call the incident resolved.
She spent the afternoon applying at four restaurants and a hospital cafeteria.
At the last interview, the supervisor noticed the Meridian on her résumé.
“Why did you leave?” the woman asked.
