Chapter 13 - The Man Without the Company
Nathan received the news calmly.
Too calmly.
Emma knew him well enough to be suspicious.
“What are you feeling?”
They sat overlooking the Pacific.
Nathan stared toward the water.
“I don’t know.”
“Liar.”
He smiled faintly.
“Terrified.”
“Of what?”
“That without the company, I don’t know who I am.”
Emma understood.
Whitmore Global had been Nathan’s identity before it became his empire.
He had started working there at twenty-two.
Bought out two regional investors at twenty-eight.
Became CEO at thirty-one.
Everything good and bad in him had been rewarded by scale.
Speed.
Control.
Obsession.
Sacrifice.
People praised the same traits Emma had learned to fear.
“What will you do?” she asked.
Nathan shrugged.
“That’s the terrifying part.”
“You have more money than you could spend in ten lifetimes.”
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
Emma smiled.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“What would you do?”
“With your life?”
“Yes.”
“Nothing.”
Nathan blinked.
“For six months.”
He laughed.
“I’d go insane.”
“Exactly.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’ve never learned to exist without producing.”
Nathan considered it.
Emma continued.
“You don’t need another company.”
“I know.”
“You don’t need a turnaround project.”
“I know.”
“You definitely don’t need to start a foundation.”
“I know.”
“Good.”
Nathan looked toward the bookstore.
“What if I worked there?”
Emma stared.
“You?”
“Shelves. Inventory.”
“You’d reorganize the entire store in three days.”
“I wouldn’t.”
“You absolutely would.”
“I could be restrained.”
“You once color-coded our refrigerator.”
“It improved efficiency.”
Emma laughed.
Nathan looked at her.
“There.”
“What?”
“That.”
She stopped.
He smiled.
“I’d reorganize a thousand refrigerators to hear that.”
Emma shook her head.
“You’re becoming sentimental.”
“Losing everything does that.”
“You didn’t lose everything.”
Nathan looked at her.
“No.”
Grace slept against Emma’s chest.
He smiled softly.
“I didn’t.”
The divorce became final two months later.
No courtroom battle.
No leaked settlement.
No statement.
Nathan signed.
Emma signed.
And an eight-year marriage ended in eleven minutes inside a courthouse conference room.
Outside, reporters waited.
Nathan left through one entrance.
Emma through another.
That evening, Nathan came to the bookstore.
He stood awkwardly in the doorway.
“What?”
Emma asked.
“I wasn’t sure whether I was allowed to come.”
“For Grace?”
“Yes.”
“You’re always allowed to come for Grace unless we discuss otherwise.”
Nathan nodded.
“Okay.”
Emma looked at him.
“Are you okay?”
“No.”
“Me neither.”
That honesty made both of them smile sadly.
Nathan sat beside Grace.
His wedding ring was gone.
Emma noticed immediately.
Her own finger had been bare for months.
Seeing his bare hand hurt more than she expected.
Nathan caught her looking.
“I put it away.”
“Where?”
“The blue scarf box.”
Emma swallowed.
“Why there?”
“Because that box holds things from lives I don’t want to forget.”
She looked away.
Weeks became months.
Nathan stayed in Newport more often.
Not with Emma.
He rented a small house twelve minutes away.
He joined no boards.
Started no company.
Made pancakes badly.
Learned which diapers Grace hated.
Discovered that Harbor Light Books lost money every February and refused to let himself offer Emma a bailout.
Instead, he worked Saturdays.
For minimum wage.
Rachel nearly died laughing.
“The billionaire is alphabetizing romance novels.”
Nathan held up a copy.
“This author is under the wrong letter.”
Rachel pointed.
“Stop optimizing.”
“Yes, boss.”
Emma watched from behind the counter.
This Nathan would have been impossible to imagine a year earlier.
And slowly, almost against her will, she began wanting him.
Not the husband she remembered.
The man standing in front of her now.
That distinction mattered.
Then one evening, Olivia appeared in Newport.
No warning.
No cameras.
She entered five minutes before closing.
Nathan was upstairs with Grace.
Emma stood behind the register.
“What are you doing here?”
Olivia looked pale.
“I need to tell you something.”
“You have lawyers.”
“This isn’t about the case.”
Emma’s shoulders tightened.
“Then what?”
Olivia swallowed.
“Charles Manning wasn’t the last person involved.”
Emma’s blood ran cold.
“The investigation is almost over.”
“I know.”
“Malcolm confessed.”
“I know.”
“Charles is pleading guilty.”
“I know.”
“Then what are you talking about?”
Olivia stepped closer.
“There was someone else inside Whitmore Global protecting the old payments.”
“Who?”
Olivia looked toward the staircase.
Toward Nathan’s voice upstairs.
Then back at Emma.
“Someone Nathan trusts.”
Emma’s heart began pounding.
“Name.”
Olivia whispered:
“Daniel Pierce.”
Emma stared.
May you like
Nathan’s former chief operating officer.
The man the board had just appointed permanent CEO.
