REBECCA’S POV
Olivia called me on Tuesday morning.
She did not have a folder this time. She did not come to the house. She called me while I was working on fabric samples for the new collection, and she said, “I have something,” and then she told me about it over the phone with the efficiency of a woman delivering news that did not require the formality of a meeting.
“Malcolm Strand is divesting,” she said.
I set down the fabric I was holding.
Malcolm Strand had been with Edmund since the second year of the company’s existence. Eighteen years. He was not a small investor. He was not someone who made moves without thinking them through exhaustively. He was the kind of partner who had seen Edmund through three recessions and had always, always doubled down on confidence when uncertain
