جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 50

The new demands hit before anyone in the house had finished their first cup of coffee. Eve only understood how bad it was when the study door stayed shut for almost two hours and the voices inside carried a sharp edge that hadn’t been there the day before. When Richard finally came out he looked like he had aged a year overnight. He stood in the kitchen doorway while the rest of them were still half-awake and gave the update without any attempt to soften it. “They want formal interviews,” he said. “Not quiet conversations. Structured ones with notes. They’re also asking for timelines and access to internal records I can’t just hand over without creating more problems. I can slow some of it. I can’t stop all of it without making this blow wider. Until I know exactly how far they’re willing to push, the restrictions here stay at maximum. No one leaves this house. No unsupervised contact. No exceptions of any kind.” He looked straight at Eve, then at Sloane. “Both of you remain exac

The formal process didn’t ease up after the last round of demands. It got worse. Eve found out how much worse when Richard came out of the study the next morning looking like he hadn’t slept at all. He stood in the kitchen while everyone else was still half awake and gave the update without trying to make it sound like he still had full control. “They’re scheduling the interviews,” he said. “Not asking. Scheduling. They want to speak to people inside the company under formal conditions with notes taken. They’re also pushing harder for access to internal records I can’t keep blocking without looking like I’m hiding something bigger. I can still slow pieces of it. I can’t stop the whole thing cold without making the board pay closer attention. Until I know exactly how far they’re going to push, the restrictions here stay at the highest level. No one leaves this house. No unsupervised contact of any kind. Cole keeps the watch. Grant keeps order. If either of you becomes a problem w

Richard came back from the interview quieter than usual. He walked into the house late in the afternoon, closed the front door harder than he needed to, and went straight to the study without saying much to anyone. Grant and Cole followed him in. The door shut. Eve stood in the hallway for a moment listening to the low voices on the other side, then forced herself to move before Cole noticed her lingering. The house already felt different. Tighter. Like the walls had moved in another inch while Richard was gone. She went upstairs and sat on the edge of the bed. Her hands were restless in her lap. The first formal interview had actually happened. Lawyers and board-connected people had asked structured questions about the private mess that had started with one night and grown into this. Richard had gone in there and tried to protect the structure. She didn’t know how much he had managed to keep contained, but the look on his face when he came back told her it hadn’t been easy. Sloa

Richard was already in the study when Eve came downstairs the next morning. The door was shut and she could hear his voice through it, was low, controlled, but carrying that tight edge it got when the people on the other end weren’t giving him any room. She stood in the hallway for a few seconds longer than she should have, then forced herself to keep moving before Cole’s next check found her lingering. The kitchen was empty except for the coffee pot. Sloane hadn’t come down yet. Eve poured a cup she didn’t really want and leaned against the counter, staring at nothing. The formal interviews were still happening. Whatever Richard had managed to contain after the first one, it hadn’t been enough to stop the process. New demands kept coming. She could feel it in the way the house had gotten quieter and tighter at the same time. Cole passed the kitchen doorway, registered her, and kept going. The constant checking had become so routine it almost felt like part of the walls. She took h

Richard didn’t come out of the study until almost noon. Eve had already been downstairs twice by then. Both times Cole had been somewhere in the same stretch of hallway or near the stairs, marking her without saying anything. The monitoring had stopped feeling like a temporary measure. It felt like the house itself had decided she wasn’t allowed to move without being counted. Sloane was in the kitchen when Eve went down the second time. They looked at each other across the counter. Sloane’s face was tired and closed off. She gave a short nod and went back to whatever she was doing on her laptop. That was the whole exchange. The break between them was still solid. Even with the outside pressure getting worse every day, Sloane wasn’t crossing back over to share any of the weight. Eve had stopped expecting her to. She took her coffee upstairs and sat on the edge of the bed with it cooling in her hands. The formal process was still grinding forward. She could feel it in the way Richar