“What envelope?”
Madison stared at her.
“The one Ethan can never see.”
Lauren felt something cold move through her chest.
“What is on it?”
“Proof.”
“Of the affair?”
Madison’s eyes filled with something close to disbelief.
“No.”
Her voice dropped.
“The affair is the smallest thing you should be afraid of.”
A nurse entered before Lauren could respond.
Madison closed her eyes immediately.
Her heart rate climbed to 122.
Lauren stepped aside while the nurse checked the arterial line.
“Her pressure’s drifting.”
Lauren looked at the monitor.
Then at Madison.
Madison opened her eyes again.
“Please,” she whispered.
Lauren bent closer.
Madison spoke so quietly Lauren barely heard her.
“June eighteenth.”
“What happened June eighteenth?”
“The board dinner.”
Lauren remembered.
Charles Cole’s penthouse.
Fourteen executives.
Meridian representatives.
Ethan leaving the table after an argument with his father.
Madison had been there.
Lauren had spoken with her for maybe four minutes.
