Chapter 63 Not Just The Harringtons
The thick, cream-colored envelope sat on Sarah’s desk like a heavy weight, and she stared at the Harrington Group seal embossed on the flap while the morning sun hit the glass walls of her office, making the quiet room feel like a laboratory where her life was being dissected. She had spent twenty years building her firm with sweat and late nights, but now the survival of everything she owned was wrapped in a sixty-page document that Alex had sent over by a courier at six in the morning, and she hadn't even finished her first cup of coffee before she realized that the man she loved was starting to talk to her in the language of a landlord.
Stacy walked in with a stack of invoices, her face looking more relaxed than it had in months, and she gestured toward the envelope with a small smile that didn't reach her eyes, because even she knew that nothing from that building came without a hidden cost.
"The bookkeeper is doing cartwheels in the hallway, Sarah, the wire transfer from the Harrington Group hit the account an hour ago and we are officially in the black for the first time since the tabloid leak," Stacy said, sitting down and crossing her legs, but she stopped when she saw the look on Sarah’s face.
"What is it, did the check bounce?"
"The money is there, but I’ve been reading the fine print for the last two hours, and it isn't just a contract for the Veridian project, it is a full-service exclusivity agreement that gives them the right to approve my public appearances, my social media posts, and even the people I choose to associate with professionally," Sarah said, and she shoved the papers across the desk so Stacy could see the bold heading titled 'Section 14: Morality and Public Conduct'.
"A morality clause? Sarah, you’re an interior designer, not a pop star, why would they care who you have lunch with?" Stacy asked, leaning forward to scan the lines.
"Because I am the woman who is having something with the new Executive Vice President, and Richard doesn't want the Harrington name dragged through the mud by a woman who is old enough to be his son’s mother, so they are putting me on a leash and calling it a security measure," Sarah said, her voice sounding sharp and cold, and she stood up to look out the window at the city skyline where the Harrington tower stood taller than everything else.
"What did Alex say when you talked to him about it?" Stacy asked.
"I haven't talked to him, I’ve had three calls with his assistants today and they all told me the same thing, that Mr. Harrington is in a closed-door merger meeting and he cannot be disturbed for anything less than a national emergency," Sarah replied, and she grabbed her bag and her keys because she was done waiting for a slot on a digital calendar.
She drove to the headquarters and didn't bother checking in at the front desk, she used the executive key card Alex had given her and rode the elevator to the top floor, her heels clicking on the marble with a steady, angry rhythm that made the staff jump out of her way. She pushed past the two secretaries sitting outside the double doors of the Vice President’s suite, and she didn't wait for them to announce her before she swung the doors open, find Alex sitting at a long table with six men she didn't recognize, all of them staring at a projected map of the European market.
Alex looked up and his face didn't change, he didn't smile and he didn't look surprised, he just looked at his watch and then back at the men at the table.
"Gentlemen, give us ten minutes, there is a coffee station in the lounge that I’m sure you’ll find more interesting than this for a moment," Alex said, and his voice was deeper, more controlled, and lacked the warmth she was used to hearing in the dark of her bedroom.
The men filed out in a flurry of whispers, and once the doors were shut, Alex stood up and walked toward her, but he didn't reach for her, he just leaned against the edge of the table and looked at the folder she was clutching in her hand.
"I assume you’re here about the Veridian contract, I was hoping you’d be celebrating the fact that your firm is safe for the next five years, Sarah," he said, and he looked at her with a look of professional curiosity that made her stomach turn.
"I am here about Section 14, Alex, I am here about the part where I have to ask your legal department for permission before I go to a charity dinner or talk to a reporter about my own work," Sarah told him, and she dropped the folder on the table between them. "I am a business owner, not a puppet, and I didn't spend two decades building my reputation just so you could put a price tag on my freedom."
"It is a standard clause for high-profile partners, Sarah, and after the gala disaster, the board was ready to pull your funding entirely unless we could guarantee that there wouldn't be any more surprises in the tabloids," Alex explained, and he walked over to the window, looking out at the city with the same distant look his father always had.
"It’s for your protection as much as mine, because if you stay within the guidelines, they can't touch you, and you can stop looking over your shoulder every time you leave your house."
"I was never looking over my shoulder until you brought your father’s world into my living room, and I don't want protection that feels like a prison cell, I want to know why you signed off on a document that treats me like a liability," she said, her voice rising, but Alex didn't move, he didn't even turn around to look at her.
"I signed off on it because it was the only way to get the bank to release the hold on your property, and I have a three-hundred-million-dollar merger waiting for me in the next room, so I really need you to just sign the paper and enjoy the security I’ve provided for you," he said, and he finally looked at her, but his eyes were hard and focused on the work, and he looked at her like she was a distraction he needed to manage.
"Is that what this is to you now, a transaction? You provide the security and I provide the silence?" Sarah asked, and she felt a cold realization hit her that the boy who loved her was being buried under the weight of the suits and the marble.
"It is reality, Sarah, and I am doing everything I can to keep your world from falling apart, so please, don't make this harder than it has to be," Alex told her, and the intercom on his desk buzzed with his assistant’s voice telling him that the board was waiting.
"We aren't done talking about this," Sarah said, but Alex was already walking toward the door to let the men back in.
"We are for today, I'll see you at the house later tonight, just have Stacy file the signed copy by five," he said, and he didn't even wait for her to leave before he was back in his chair, gesturing for the merger meeting to resume.
Sarah walked out of the building feeling like she was a stranger in her own life, and she drove back to her office in a daze, ignoring the calls from her vendors and the emails from her clients. She sat in her dark office for hours after the sun went down, staring at the contract and wondering if the price of her business was worth the loss of the man she thought she knew, and she felt a deep, hollow ache in her chest that wouldn't go away.
The phone on her desk rang at eight in the evening, and she picked it up thinking it was Alex calling to apologize, but the voice on the other end was a man she didn't recognize, a voice that was smooth, professional, and full of a quiet threat.
"Is this Sarah Hayes?" the man asked.
"Yes, who is this?" she replied, her hand tightening on the receiver.
"My name is Marcus Vane, I am a senior partner at Vane and Associates, and I am calling to inform you that a civil suit is being filed against you on behalf of an anonymous party for intentional infliction of emotional distress and reputational damage," the lawyer said, and Sarah felt the room start to spin.
"Emotional distress? What are you talking about, I haven't done anything to anyone," she snapped, her heart pounding against her ribs.
"The filings will be delivered to your home in the morning, but I would suggest you find a very good lawyer, Sarah, because the plaintiff is someone who has been very close to this entire scandal, and they are prepared to testify that your relationship with Alex Harrington was a calculated move to exploit a vulnerable young man for financial gain," the man told her, and his voice sounded like it was coming from a long way off.
"Who is it, who is the plaintiff?" Sarah asked, her voice trembling.
"I cannot disclose that yet, but I think you’ll recognize the handwriting on the witness list, it’s a name that has been in your life for a very long time," the lawyer said, and the line went dead, leaving Sarah standing in the dark with the sound of her own breathing.