THE BILLIONAIRE WHO CAME CRAWLING BACK のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 11 - チャプター 20

It took six weeks for everything to go.The cars were auctioned first, then the jet, then the art, one piece at a time, each sale announced in a polite email. The board formally removed him. The investigators interviewed him four times, each time with the same patient face. His lawyer stopped saying when this is resolved and started saying if. He moved from the penthouse to a suite, from the suite to a room, from the room to a smaller room in a hotel off Eighth Avenue, where the carpet smelled faintly of other people's cigarettes.He applied for jobs. Every firm he had ever done business with sent the same careful reply. We're sorry. We can't get involved. A man whose hand he had shaken at a hundred dinners declined to take his call and had his secretary say he was in a meeting. His name, it turned out, was now a thing people crossed the street to avoid.Pryce could not be found. The Singapore accounts led nowhere. Someone had built the trap carefully, and Alexander could feel the wal

"Operations," Mia said. "Entry level. Shipping schedules, vendor calls, whatever the team needs. You'll be at a desk on the open floor.""Fine.""You'll report to Daniel."Alexander went still."Daniel Reyes?""He's a team lead now."Alexander looked at the floor, then back up. "Page nine," he said."Excuse me?""The last time I spoke to him at Vale, I told him he had until noon. He had the wrong column on page nine.""He remembers.""He told you?""He told me before he said yes to this." She sat down again. "Daniel asked if he could work with you. I told him he didn't have to. He said he wanted to."Alexander rubbed the side of his thumb against the edge of his wrist, where his watch used to be. It was a habit she had noticed years ago. Now there was nothing there, and his thumb kept moving anyway."Why would he?" he asked."You'd have to ask him.""I'm asking you. Why are you doing this?""I'm not doing it for you.""Then who?""Me."He waited for more. She didn't give it."Here's h

The first job was a shipping schedule."It's easy," Daniel said. "A vendor in Ohio sends us boxes. We send them to three warehouses. You match the dates and make sure nothing gets double booked.""That's all?""That's all."It took Alexander forty minutes to do what Tasha did in ten. He didn't mind. He had never filled in a spreadsheet by himself before. There had always been someone to do it.At eleven he stopped and frowned at his screen."Daniel.""Yeah?""The Ohio boxes go to three warehouses. Two of them are in New Jersey, about ten miles apart.""Yeah.""Why not send everything to one and move it later?"Daniel came over and leaned on the divider. "Say that again?""It's two trucks instead of three. You'd save on fuel and on the driver's time. It's not a big number, but over a year it's a lot."Daniel was quiet for a moment."Okay," he said. "That's good.""I can set it up.""No."Alexander looked up."Write it up," Daniel said. "A page. Send it to me. I'll take it to the right

RICHARD'S OFFERPart One"Who told you?"Alexander had stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. A woman with a stroller had to walk around him."Does it matter?" Richard said."It does to me.""People talk, Alexander. They always have. Someone saw my son walk into an office building on Monday morning with a visitor badge and a bad suit." His voice was gentle. "I only wanted to hear it from you.""I'm working. That's all.""For whom?"Alexander said nothing."For Carter & Co.," Richard said. "For that girl who used to bring you coffee."A cab honked. Alexander turned his back to the street."Her name is Mia.""Is it?""You know it is.""I know a great many things." Richard paused. "I know you slept in a hotel on Eighth Avenue last night. I know the carpet is stained. I know you ate a sandwich standing up."The cold started in Alexander's hands and went up his arms."Are you having me followed?""I'm a father. I worry.""That isn't worry.""Call it what you like." Richard let out a small,

SORRYPart OneThe door stayed closed.Mia kept looking at it long after the clicking sound had faded. Her coffee sat in front of her, black and untouched, going cold."Mia."She blinked. The room was empty. The finance lead had gone. The others had gone. Only Ethan was left, still in his chair, with his folder shut on the table."The meeting's over," he said."I know.""You didn't hear a word of it.""I heard some.""Which part?"She didn't answer.Ethan stood up and pushed his chair in. He didn't look angry. He looked tired, the way he did when he was trying to be careful."That wasn't like you," he said."I know.""You've never done that to anyone. Not once. Not even the people who deserved it.""He's not just anyone.""I know who he is." Ethan kept his voice low. "That's why I'm saying it."Mia stood. She picked up the coffee and then put it down again, because her hand wasn't steady."I wanted him to feel it," she said."Did he?""Yes.""And did you feel better?"She opened her m