Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Called It a Scandal
Victoria Hayes had always understood power as the ability to decide which conversations were permitted in a room. At family dinners, she chose the guests, the seating arrangements, and the subjects that could be discussed. She had spent decades shaping her son's public image until the difference between Alexander Hayes the man and Alexander Hayes the institution was almost impossible to see.
Now her son refused to answer her calls.
So Victoria flew to Toronto.
She arrived at the publishing house just after ten, wearing a cream coat and an expression of practiced concern. Sophie saw her approach the reception desk and immediately called Emily upstairs.
“There's a woman here asking for Mrs. Hayes,” Sophie said. “She says she's family.”
Emily knew before Sophie finished the sentence.
Victoria was standing beneath the company's framed book covers when Emily entered the lobby.
“Emily, dear,” she said, opening her arms. “What a terrible ordeal you've put everyone through.”
Emily stopped several feet away. “Good morning, Victoria.”
“I've come to bring you home. Alexander is in no condition to make sensible decisions, and the newspapers are becoming vicious.”
“I'm not going back to Chicago.”
Victoria's smile tightened. “You cannot seriously intend to build a life here. You're grieving. We all are.”
Emily thought of the empty chair at the breakfast table, the tiny pink mittens still tucked inside her suitcase, the nights when silence seemed to press against her ribs.
“You're right,” she said. “I am grieving. That's why I won't discuss my life as though it's a problem for your publicist.”
Victoria lowered her voice. “This is not the place for a scene.”
“Then perhaps you shouldn't have come to my workplace.”
Several employees looked up. Emily felt her pulse hammering, but she did not retreat.
Victoria took a thin envelope from her handbag. “I brought a practical solution. A private residence outside Chicago. Your own staff. Time away from the cameras. And when you're feeling better, you and Alexander can discuss what comes next.”
Emily did not touch the envelope. “You mean when I've become quiet enough for everyone else to be comfortable.”
“That is an unkind interpretation.”
“It's the only one you've ever offered me.”
Victoria's eyes flashed. “You have no idea what it took to build this family.”
“I know what it cost mine.”
The older woman stiffened. “Grace was my granddaughter too.”
“Then speak about her like a person, not a scandal.”
For a moment Victoria had no reply.
Alexander arrived fifteen minutes later, summoned by Sophie at Emily's request. He walked into the lobby expecting tears or shouting. Instead, he found his mother sitting rigidly on a bench while Emily stood beside the receptionist.
“Mother,” he said. “Why are you here?”
“To help you.”
“I didn't ask you to.”
Victoria's gaze darted between them. “Alexander, surely you see what is happening. Your wife is making decisions in an emotional state. The press—”
“Stop.”
The single word quieted the lobby.
Alexander did not raise his voice. “Emily has a job here. She has a home. She decides who visits her. You will not come to her office again unless she invites you.”
Victoria stared at him. “You're choosing her over your own mother?”
“I'm choosing to respect a boundary. I should have done it years ago.”
Emily looked away before either of them could see the tears in her eyes.
Victoria rose. “Olivia was right. You've lost your perspective.”
“Olivia doesn't speak for me.”
“She has stood beside this family for twenty years.”
“And Emily was my wife for eight. Grace was my daughter for five. They were never supposed to compete for a place in my life.”
Victoria opened her mouth, then shut it. Alexander walked her to the door and arranged a car to the airport. He did not ask Emily to thank him afterward.
When they were alone, Emily said, “You didn't have to come.”
“You asked Sophie to call me.”
“I did. Then I regretted it.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn't want to watch you choose between us again.”
He looked at her. “You shouldn't have had to watch it the first time.”
That evening, Alexander returned to Chicago for a board meeting. He had promised Emily he would not disappear into work without telling her, and he sent a simple message before boarding: I'll be in Chicago until Friday. You don't need to respond. I'll be reachable if you want me.
She replied with two words: Travel safely.
It was more than he expected.
The boardroom on the forty-second floor of Hayes Global was filled when he arrived. His chief financial officer, Nathan Bell, stood beside a presentation showing falling share prices and canceled contracts. Olivia's father, Richard Mercer, sat near the head of the table.
“Your absence has become expensive,” Richard said.
Alexander took his seat. “Then let's discuss the business.”
“First, we need a public response. The rumors about your marriage are damaging confidence.”
“My marriage is not a board agenda item.”
“It becomes one when you let a personal tragedy destabilize an international company.”
Alexander looked at the faces around him. For years, he had treated every problem as an urgent threat to the empire. He had believed these people needed him every minute.
“Who signed off on the statement describing Emily as emotionally unstable?” he asked.
No one answered.
Daniel placed a printed email on the table. It showed the draft, prepared by an outside public-relations firm hired through a Mercer subsidiary. The proposed language suggested Emily had become irrational after Grace's death and had abandoned her marriage without explanation.
Alexander read it twice.
Richard cleared his throat. “It was never released.”
“Because Daniel stopped it.”
“Someone had to protect the company.”
“You were prepared to destroy my wife's reputation to protect a stock price.”
“Alexander, be reasonable.”
“No.”
He stood. “Effective immediately, the Mercer firm no longer represents Hayes Global. Any future statement involving Emily or Grace requires Emily's written consent. If we cannot respect that, we don't issue one.”
Richard rose as well. “You'll regret humiliating me.”
“I've regretted enough things that mattered more.”
By the end of the meeting, Alexander had accepted a temporary leave from day-to-day management. Nathan would handle operations under board oversight. Daniel would coordinate only essential decisions. Alexander also requested an independent review of any contracts that created conflicts between the Mercers and Hayes Global.
It was not a dramatic collapse of his empire. It was something more difficult for him: trusting competent people to do their jobs while he stopped pretending he alone could hold the world together.
Later, Madison met him at his apartment. She brought Grace's stuffed rabbit, the one with the loose left ear.
“I found him behind the couch,” she said.
Alexander took the rabbit carefully. “She called him Professor Buttons.”
Madison smiled through tears. “Because he knew everything about carrots.”
They sat on the living-room floor and spoke about Grace until midnight. For the first time, Madison admitted how frightened she had been of challenging their mother. She apologized for laughing along when Olivia made cruel jokes about Emily's career.
“I told myself it was harmless,” Madison said.
“It wasn't.”
“I know. I'm going to tell Emily that myself.”
Alexander looked at the rabbit in his hands. “Don't ask her to forgive you.”
“I won't.”
The following morning, Detective Ortiz called with news that changed the investigation.
Rebecca Shaw had come forward voluntarily. She admitted she left Grace near the gate for several minutes, believing the child's father was about to arrive. But she also said someone from the school office had told her a driver was on the way.
“Who told her?” Alexander asked.
“That's what we're trying to establish,” Ortiz replied. “And there is one more thing. We found an unsigned authorization form bearing your company letterhead.”
May you like
Alexander stood motionless in his kitchen.
He had never authorized a driver to collect Grace that day.
