Chapter 14 - The Last Rescue
Damon requested a meeting.
Vivian refused to meet privately.
So they sat in Melissa’s conference room.
Audrey was there with her attorney.
Damon looked smaller without the mansion foyer around him.
He did not apologize at first.
He talked about his employees.
His reputation.
The house.
The possibility of bankruptcy.
Finally Vivian interrupted.
“What do you want from me?”
“A loan.”
Audrey closed her eyes.
Damon continued.
“Enough to stabilize the business and bring the mortgage current.”
“No.”
“You could save all of this without even feeling it.”
Vivian looked at Audrey.
Her daughter stared down at the table.
Damon leaned forward.
“You’re really going to watch your own daughter lose her home?”
Vivian had expected the question.
Years earlier, it would have defeated her.
Now she answered carefully.
“I will help Audrey pay for independent housing if she leaves you. I will pay a landlord directly for six months. I will help with therapy. I will help her rebuild.”
Damon’s jaw tightened.
“But I will not finance your company. I will not cover the debts. I will not replace the money Audrey took. And I will not change what I told the police.”
Damon looked at Audrey.
“Say something.”
Audrey lifted her eyes.
For several seconds she looked like the frightened woman from the foyer.
Then she said, “I’m not asking her for the money.”
Damon pushed back from the table.
“That’s it?”
Audrey’s voice cracked.
“No. I think that’s the first honest thing I’ve done in a year.”
He walked out.
May you like
No one stopped him.
Vivian watched the door close and knew that for once, whatever happened next would not be determined by a check she wrote.
