All Chapters of UNDISCLOSED : Chapter 81 - Chapter 87

Adaomi had three days left in Chicago.The project consultation had gone better than well, the kind of meeting that ended with handshakes and follow up schedules and the specific energy of people who had found what they were looking for and were not going to let it walk out the door without making it official.She had called Stellan from the lobby of the firm on Wednesday afternoon."They want to bring me on formally," she said. "Consulting basis initially. Three visits a year minimum."A pause on his end. Then "Chicago three times a year.""At least," she said.Another pause. Longer."That is good news," he said carefully. In the tone of someone saying one thing and meaning considerably more."I thought so too," she said. In the same tone.He took her to Millennium Park on Thursday morning.Not because it was the obvious choice it was, objectively, the obvious choice for showing someone Chicago, and Stellan had spent enough of his life making obvious choices for strategic reasons tha

Edmund Reeves was already seated when she arrived.Not with the formal arrangement of a disciplinary meeting no folder open on the table, no documents positioned for review, no legal representation present. Just Reeves at the head of the small conference room on the sixteenth floor with two cups of coffee and the expression of a man who had been in corporate governance long enough to know the difference between a problem and a perception and had decided which one this was before he picked up the phone to call her.She sat across from him.He looked at her directly."I want to say something before we discuss anything else," he said. "The appointment was correct. The process was correct. The numbers that supported it were correct." He held her gaze. "I approved that appointment because you earned it. That position was not given to you. It was negotiated by you with terms that reflected an accurate understanding of your value to this firm." He paused. "I want that said clearly before we

Brennan's statement arrived at eight forty seven on Friday morning.Not to Nia directly to the publication's editor in chief, copied to Edmund Reeves and the full board, with a separate copy forwarded to Imara who sent it to Nia at eight forty eight with a message that said simply “Read it.”She read it at her desk with her office door closed and her coffee going cold beside her.It was thorough.Howard Brennan, former legal counsel to the Ashford family, formally acknowledged that the information provided to financial journalist Carter Walsh had been obtained through his prior professional relationship with the family and shared without authorization, instruction or knowledge of any current member of the Ashford Group or its board. He acknowledged that the appointment of Nia Calloway to the position of Senior Partner had been made through proper channels with full board approval and that her compensation arrangement reflected documented portfolio performance. He acknowledged that hi

Rowan called Imara on a Wednesday. Which they had established early as their specific communication for things that mattered, texts were for logistics, calls were for everything else.She answered on the third ring which meant she was in the middle of something and had decided to answer anyway which he had learned meant something."I have a site visit in Chicago next Friday," he said. "The West Loop development."A pause. "The Ashford Group project.""Adjacent to it, yes." He held his phone. "I will be in the city for the weekend."Another pause. Shorter this time. "The whole weekend.""Yes."He heard something in her breath that was not quite a response and did not quite silence the specific quality of Imara processing something she had already decided and was taking a moment to confirm."There is a new restaurant in River North," she said finally. "I have been meaning to try it.""Saturday," he said."Saturday," she agreed.He put the phone down and sat in his Milwaukee apartment