Chapter 11 - The Offer
My father requested a meeting at a quiet restaurant on the mainland. Nina advised against going without counsel, so we met by video instead. Judson appeared from his study; behind him hung the sailing photographs he loved more than any portrait of his daughters.
“I can cover the catering transaction,” he began. “Immediately. But I need assurances.”
“What kind?” Nina asked.
“That Merritt withdraw her accusations and stop making this a family scandal.”
Nina explained that I could correct inaccurate information or notify investigators of new facts, but I couldn't bargain away the truth. My father frowned as if the distinction were a minor inconvenience.
He said Sloan had only meant to make me lose my balance for a moment. That she hadn't understood how fragile the reconstruction was.
“You told her about the surgery?” I asked.
“Of course. We all knew about your knee.”
“And you knew the stairs were unsafe for me.”
He didn't answer.
The silence told me more than the proposed check.
Finally he leaned toward the camera. “This family has protected you for thirty-four years.”
“No,” I said. “You've protected your picture of us. There's a difference.”
His expression sharpened. “You will regret alienating the people who love you.”
I thought of the taxi driver's worried eyes, the waiter holding me upright, and Greer appearing with a wheelchair. The people who had helped me hadn't needed to share my last name.
Nina ended the call when Judson began asking about my employer's fraud investigation.
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Later, she sent his settlement proposal back with a short response: payment of an unauthorized charge could not be conditioned on silence.
My father had made his first concrete offer. He had also shown me exactly what he wanted to buy.
