Chapter 2 - THE VENDOR
Vanessa pulled her arm away from Ethan.
“That has nothing to do with us.”
Ryan opened the award packet.
The contract covered:
executive events,
regional client dinners,
launch receptions,
and private hospitality programs.
Annual value:
$420,000.
Vanessa said:
“My company won that competitively.”
Maybe.
Ryan was a corporate attorney, not an investigator.
He did not accuse.
He asked:
“Who approved it?”
Ethan answered:
“Procurement.”
“Who sponsored the vendor?”
Silence.
A senior executive at the table looked uncomfortable.
Ethan finally said:
“I recommended them.”
Claire stared.
“How long ago?”
“Claire—”
“How long ago?”
Nine months.
Two months after the affair began.
Vanessa snapped:
“My work is good.”
Claire looked at her.
“I didn’t say it wasn’t.”
That answer took the air out of Vanessa’s defense.
The question was conflict.
Not competence.
Then Ethan’s CEO, Rebecca Sloan, approached.
“Ethan, I need you away from this table.”
He stiffened.
“This is personal.”
Rebecca answered:
“It stopped being only personal when Ryan picked up that contract.”
The gala ended badly.
Not cancelled.
But the energy died.
Claire left with Luke.
She refused to go home with Ethan.
In the hotel suite upstairs, Luke asked if she wanted a doctor.
“I’m pregnant.”
He froze.
“What?”
“Six weeks.”
“Does Ethan know?”
“No.”
Luke sat beside her.
He was the youngest brother and the least explosive.
“Do you want him to?”
Claire started crying again.
“I don’t know what I want.”
Then Mason called.
He apologized for kicking Ethan.
Claire laughed through tears.
“You should.”
“I know.”
Then he said:
“There’s something else.”
The Hale hotel group had received vendor invoices from Ethan’s company for joint events.
Several named Grant Event Strategies as an approved subcontractor.
Claire looked at Luke.
“How long?”
Mason answered:
May you like
“Ten months.”
One month after the affair began.
