Sneak Peek The Billionaires Bad Reputation #2
Madeleine greeted me in precise English. "Ms. Morgan, thank you for coming on short notice. I understand you have reviewed the preliminary materials."
"I have reviewed what you sent. I have not reviewed the underlying agreements, hotel policies, or internal correspondence."
"Which is why we called you."
"Vautrin called her," Damon said.
Madeleine did not look at him. "Carrington's preferred firms are either conflicted or financially dependent on Carrington entities. We require independence."
Adrian shifted in his chair.
Damon leaned back, amusement appearing where another man might have displayed offense. "You could have said you wanted someone who dislikes me. Manhattan has excellent supply."
"Dislike is not independence," Madeleine replied. "It is merely less expensive bias."
I opened the packet.
The packet mapped the surge and the people already absorbing it: employees, lenders, sponsors, guests, and former partners whose names the press had begun to guess.
The fourth page contained the agreement.
My agreement.
The redactions removed my name, address, fee, and proposed schedule.
They did not remove a drafting error in Clause Eleven where the word discretionary had been used twice in the same sentence.
I had circled it in blue ink the first time I read the document, then hated myself for editing language designed to insult me.
I touched the line.
Damon saw.
"That is the copy from the article's evidence review," he said.
Mara looked between us. "You recognize it?"
"Yes," I said. "It was sent to me."
No one moved.
Adrian's pen stopped above the page.
Madeleine's face remained composed on the screen. "By Mr. Carrington?"
"By his attorney, after one kiss."
Damon did not look surprised.
That unsettled me more than anger would have.
"Did you sign?" Mara asked.
"No."
"Then your connection is not necessarily disqualifying," Adrian said.
"She decides what disqualifies her," Damon replied.
His tone stayed pleasant. The room changed around it.
Adrian looked down.
Damon's charm was not softness. It was a door he held open while making it clear who had the authority to close it.
Madeleine studied me. "Can you advise the partnership objectively?"
"I can advise truthfully. Objectivity is not the absence of a history. It is the refusal to hide one."
"And your history creates what conclusion?"
"That the contract was clear, consensual in structure, and emotionally dishonest in premise."
"I would need independent access to every similar agreement," I continued.
"I would need to know whether any woman was an employee, contractor, guest, tenant, or recipient of benefits controlled by Carrington.
I would need former partners to have a protected route to correct the company's account.
And I would not defend the practice merely because the documents were signed. "
"That is acceptable," Madeleine said.
"It is not yet an engagement."
"No. It is the reason I want one."
Mara leaned forward. "There is a further conflict question. How did this specific document become available to the publisher?"
The room narrowed.
Damon looked at me.
The same way he had looked outside the elevator, with no apparent urgency and complete attention.
I could have asked for private disclosure. I could have used counsel, careful sequencing, and the respectable machinery of professional distance.
Instead, I put both hands on the table.
"I submitted it," I said.
Adrian inhaled. Mara's face became unreadable.
Madeleine did not move at all.
Damon's gaze remained on mine.
"I gave the contract to Verity Gray," I continued. "I answered her verification questions and authorized publication of the language. I did not submit information about any other woman. I did not know their identities."
"You were a source," Mara said.
"I was evidence. There is a difference."
"Not to litigation."
"Then litigate carefully," Damon said.
Mara turned to him. "Damon."
"Ms. Morgan has disclosed conduct that could create legal exposure for her and commercial exposure for us. She did it before an engagement existed and before she knew whether we would pay her. That is more useful than anyone in this room pretending comfort is the same as trust."
The defense should not have affected me.
It did.
Madeleine leaned closer to her camera. "Mr. Carrington, will you accept Morgan Reputation if the firm accepts you?"
Damon did not look away from me.
"Yes."
One word, no joke attached.
Madeleine nodded. "Then the question belongs to Ms. Morgan."
June 20. Four years of restoration. Hundreds of employees hired and trained. Reservations extending into the autumn. A public failure attached not only to Damon's name but to every person whose work had become scenery behind his reputation.
That was how crises trapped good advisers. The central allegation could be personal while the consequences spread to people who had never entered the room where the harm began.
I looked at Damon.
He was watching the contract rather than the projected revenue loss.