CHAPTER 10 : SEALED
1093 Words
(OLIVIA POV)
Blake was already at the breakfast table when I came downstairs.
He was never home this early.
He looked up from his coffee. "Board preliminary meeting at ten. I need you to represent me."
I pulled out my chair and sat. "Alright."
He looked at me a beat longer than necessary. Something behind his eyes that his face didn't show. Then his phone buzzed and he looked down.
Madam Chen set tea in front of me. Our eyes met for half a second. She moved away.
Aria came in from the garden, cheeks slightly flushed, Nathaniel's hand in hers. She stopped when she saw me at the table.
"Oh." A soft smile. "Good morning Olivia."
"Morning."
Nathaniel looked between us. He climbed into his chair and reached for his juice without saying anything.
Blake stood. Buttoned his jacket. "The meeting starts at ten. Don't be late."
He walked out without looking at either of us.
The front door closed.
Aria sat down across from me and picked up the coffee Blake had left behind and poured herself more coffee like she owns the cup.
"He works so hard," she said. Not to anyone specifically. she Just said it.
I looked at my tea."He always has," I said.
She looked at Nathaniel. "Are you excited for school today?"
He nodded without looking up from his juice.
"Your teacher told Blake you've been drawing a lot," she said. "He's so proud of you."
Nathaniel looked up at that. Then at me.
I smiled at him. "Finish your juice," I said.
He finished it.
I finished my tea and went upstairs to get dressed.
—--
The boardroom was already half full when I walked in.
Lorenzo stood the moment he saw me. Both hands off the table.
"Mrs. Sterling." He pulled out the chair beside him. "Good to have you here."
Lawson nodded once from across the table. The others settled with the ease of people who felt the room had just become more capable.
I opened my folder.
"Let's start with Singapore," I said.
The financing concern came first.
"The projected variance in Q3 creates a liability exposure that the current amendment doesn't cover," the legal rep started.
"Page twelve," I said. "The indemnity clause covers the variance window. It needs the supplementary rider attached before Monday."
Lorenzo looked at me. Then the page. Then back at me.
The meeting moved on.
Shareholder communication issue. Resolved. Compliance flag that had been sitting three weeks untouched. Resolved. Every concern was addressed before it fully formed.
Lawson hadn't written a single note.
When the others filed out he stayed by the window.
"You know," he said, "I've sat across from Blake in this room for four years."
I waited.
"He never once came in prepared like that."
"Blake prepares differently."
"Does he." It wasn't a question. He picked up his folder. "You should have a seat at this table, Mrs. Sterling. Not just when he can't make it."
Lawson walked out before I could answer.
I stood there for a moment.
Four years he had sat across from Blake. Blake take credit for resolutions he hadn't built and strategies he hadn't written. And in forty minutes he had seen enough to say what he said.
I picked up my folder.
Alexander's lawyer stepped in just as the last board member left.
Brief. Composed. Every word he said is placed deliberately.
"Mr. Sterling has recently updated his private directives. A sealed document has been lodged with the firm." He looked around the emptying room. "Standard procedure. You'll know when it's time."
Lorenzo nodded from the doorway.
Not surprise. Recognition.
The lawyer closed his briefcase and left and I stood there in the quiet of that emptying room turning those words over slowly.
You'll know when it's time.
Blake's name was on everything in this company. But Blake Hadn't been in this room for most of the conversations that kept it standing.
I picked up my bag and walked out.
The elevator opened onto the lobby and Luciano was there.
Jacket open. Phone in hand. The stillness of a man who had learned that patience looked better than urgency.
He looked up when I stepped out.
We walked toward the exit together without deciding to. He held the door and the afternoon air hit us both at the same time.
"Have you eaten?" he asked.
"No."
"Two blocks from here." He glanced at me sideways. "Thirty minutes."
I looked straight ahead. "Thirty minutes."
We got to the restaurant and sat by the window . He ordered without the menu. I ordered without asking. The food came and we started eating.
"What did you do before all this?" he asked.
"Event coordination."
"What did you love about it?"
I looked at him. Most people asked what it was. Not what I loved about it.
"Building something that only exists for one moment," I said. "Everything comes together at a specific point in time and then it's over. But while it's happening it holds."
"You're still doing that," he said.
"Excuse me?"
"Holding things together." He picked up his fork. "Just without the credit."
I didn't answer.
He didn't push.
We ate. Nobody checked their phone. The thirty minutes passed without either of us counting them.
When I stood he said "Same time next week?"
"I'll think about it."
He looked at me. "You've already decided."
"Don't push it Luciano."
"I'm not pushing." He smiled at me
"I'm just noting that you made the decision before you stood up."
I looked at him for a moment.
"Same time next week," I said.
He almost smiled.
I left immediately, I didn't want him to say anything else, I walked through the door before my pains showed back on my face.
The warmth of that lunch was still sitting somewhere in my chest when I got to sterling estate, I walked through the front door and found Blake in the entrance hall.
He was still and not restless.
"How was the board meeting?" “he said”
"It went well."
His eyes stayed on mine. "And after?"
"I had lunch."
The silence stretched between us.
He looked at me the way he looked at something that had stopped behaving the way he expected it to. Not angry. Recalculating.
unlocking his phone.
"I'm going to check on Nathaniel," I said.
I walked past him towars the stairs,he didn't follow me
Before I reached the top step I heard it.
The quiet tap of his thumb
He was already making a call.
- Writer
