2 ~ Sloane

I woke up to my head pounding like someone was taking a hammer to it from the inside.

My phone on the nightstand was lit up and buzzing in a way that communicated something had gone very wrong overnight, which I already knew, but seeing thirty seven missed calls from my secretary at eight in the morning made it considerably more concrete.

I lay there for exactly ten seconds.

Then I sat up.

The notifications kept coming. My secretary. Board members I recognized by name. My father's lawyer. A text from my stepmother that I opened with the particular resignation of someone who already knew they weren't going to enjoy what they were about to read.

Family office. Meeting at 10am. Do not be late.

I checked the time. 9:40.

A stock notification dropped down from the top of my screen and I looked at it long enough to confirm what I already suspected. Not yet catastrophic, but trending that way with the type of momentum it would take to continue on that path to no avail.

Rising, I immediately went to the bathroom.

The shower was fast and hot and I didn't let myself think about anything beyond the immediate task of being ready and presentable and walking into that meeting looking like a woman who had not left her own wedding the previous afternoon in front of every important person in Seattle. I had worked hard to establish a reputation for myself and had been toying with all kinds of complications that had been thrown at my face in one afternoon, so the least I could do was look like none of it had touched me.

I dried my hair, dressed with the first clean clothes I could find and was lining my eyes when my phone buzzed with a text from my secretary.

Downstairs in two minutes.

I capped the liner, picked up my bag and left.

I was greeted at the building entrance by my secretary Maya, who was holding a cup of coffee and on the other hand a tablet, falling into step beside me without missing a beat. She had served as my secretary for three years and her ability to pass negative information in a way that made it sound like a calendar update was her particular specialty.

“The board group chat has been on since last night.” As we walked to the car, she maintained a professional tone in her voice, making it lower. “Your lawyer told you he will be at the estate by 10 am because 3 members have called for an emergency session. To date, the story has been picked up by four outlets and the comments have been…"

"I don't need to know about the comments."

"Understood." She scrolled down to the next page. “Your 11 o'clock has been rescheduled; the Harrington meeting will still be held on Thursday if you don't want me to move it.”

"Good." I got into the car.

Maya slipped in next to me, and kept on going. I drank the coffee and listened and watched Seattle move past the window. The city looked exactly the same as it always did. Grey sky, wet roads, people moving with their heads down against the cold. Nothing about it acknowledged that my life had shifted considerably in the past eighteen hours.

I appreciated that about cities. They didn't care.

I finished the coffee and handed the empty cup to Maya and looked out the window the rest of the way. Whatever was waiting for me at that estate I was going to walk into it the same way I walked into everything. Ready and unbothered and giving nothing away.

We arrived at my father's estate at exactly ten-thirty.

I didn’t rush out of the car.

It was a trivial thing I knew was petty and I did it anyway, I collected my things, walking up the front steps at a pace that communicated I was here because I had chosen to be and not because anyone had summoned me. Even before the day he passed, my father's estate was more of Veronica's than mine, and when I came there for a meeting she had organized, it was like coming there on my own terms.

Showing up early was not something I was going to do. Let them wait thirty minutes. It was the least I could take from this morning.

When I came into the office there were already seated. Two lawyers from the board and my stepmother Veronica, sitting near the head of the table with the scowl she often had when she thought she was going to win something. I've seen that face throughout my life, and it had never once made me feel anything other than tired.

I sat at the head of the table.

The room adjusted.

My father's lawyer Tyler cleared his throat and opened the folder in front of him. He was a lean, thin man who had been busy for twenty years with the affairs of the Reed families and he was the neutral man that is trained to report facts without personal opinion.

“Thank you all for coming.” He then glanced at the document. “I'll read the pertinent clause directly.”

The air became still.

“Full succession of Reed Industries, including all holdings, assets and controlling shares, shall be denied until Sloane Reed has been lawfully married by the time she reaches her twenty-fifth birthday, at which point the estate will pass to Veronica Reed.”

I kept my face completely still.

The words weren't new ones. I had heard this clause many years ago when my father originally had the will prepared. It was a formality at the time. A checked box to check. I had been engaged to Cole for 2 years and my 25th birthday had been a distant affair that didn't need to happen.

It felt urgent now.

"I'm twenty four." I looked at Tyler . “The condition is not violated.”

"Miss Reed." Tyler’s voice was careful. "Your twenty fifth birthday is in four days. The window is not generous."

"But it exists."

"Technically, yes. However…"

“Then we are done here,” I closed the folder in front of me and looked around the table once. "If there's nothing else, this meeting is adjourned."

I stood and my stepmother's voice called out to me.

"You could always go back to Cole." Veronica said it with the particular sweetness she used when she wanted something to land hard. "I'm sure he'd still have you. Under the circumstances."

I gazed at her for exactly one second.

Then I picked up my bag and walked away silently. Some responses weren't worth the breath and Veronica Reed had been trying to get a reaction out of me for fifteen years without success. Today was not going to be the day she got one.

I found my lawyer Patrick in the hallway outside.

“Tell me there's something.” I continued walking and he walked along with me.

"I went through it twice." He matched my stride. "The language is airtight. It was written when your engagement to Cole was already in place so it was never meant to be a threat, it was meant to be a formality. But now…"

"Now it's not." I went through the front door.

“There's no loophole, Sloane. I looked.”

I paused at the foot of the steps, and stood there for a while. The morning air was cold and the city air moved around me completely indifferent, the same way it always did.

"Thank you, Patrick." I pulled out my phone as I walked to the car.

It rang twice until the other end picked up.

"Can you meet me?" I maintained a neutral tone in my voice. "The café on Mercer. One o'clock.”