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Sam came to her office around five. She sensed his presence in the doorway before she looked up.
"Hi, Suzie."
For so many years every part of her had jumped alive whenever she caught sight of him, but now she felt
numb. She swiveled slowly in her chair and for a few brief moments saw him as others did, those who
hadn't fallen under his spell. He looked tired and nervous. He needed a haircut, and his slacks and shirt
were wrinkled, as if he'd fallen asleep in them.
"Did you go over to the house?" he asked as he walked into her office.
"I stopped in to pick up my things."
"You can't run away if we're going to get this worked out."
Now that she had left him, he finally wanted to work out their problems. She could almost have predicted
this would happen, so why was it so hurtful? "We're not going to get our problems worked out. It's over,
Sam. I've had enough."
He drove his hand through his hair, plunged his fist into the pocket of his slacks. "Look, Susannah. I'm
sorry. I fucked up real bad. I know that. But it doesn't have to be the end of everything. If I'd known it
was going to be such a big deal to you "
"I don't want to talk about it!" She fought for composure. Years of bitter experience had taught her how
easy it was to get caught up in Sam's twisted logic, and her emotional control was too fragile for her to
argue with him now. "These are business hours, Sam, and we're going to talk business."
Rising from behind her desk, she forced herself to come around to the front. "Mitch just told me that we
lost the contract with the state of California because they heard a rumor that we're going to sell SysVal.
Tell me why you sandbagged us like this."
He flopped down in a chair, stretching his legs out and hunching his shoulders like a sullen schoolboy.
"It's obvious, isn't it? It's time for us to sell. The economy is heading for a recession, and companies are
going belly-up all over the Valley. We've been lucky, but I don't think we should push it. That contract
with the state was fool's gold, anyway."
"And so, without consulting any of your partners, you took it upon yourself to approach the rest of the
board about selling SysVal."
"What was I supposed to do?" he replied belligerently. "You'd run away, remember? How was I going to
consult you?"
She wouldn't let him draw her into a fight. "What about Mitch and Yank? They didn't run away."
"Mitch and Yank don't understand things, not like you do. Listen, Susannah, this may seem like it's come
out of nowhere, but everything's going to be okay. We can take all that we've learned and start a new
company something a lot better than SysVal. We've gotten too big too fast. This time, we'll keep
ourselves even leaner and trimmer. Think how much we know about manufacturing. We can automate
everything. Robotics is exploding. We'll save millions in labor costs. With our track record, we'll have
every investor in the country standing in line to back us."
He was saying the right words, but the energy wasn't there. His eyes weren't shining with any mystic
vision of the future. She sensed that he was throwing up some sort of elaborate smoke screen. Stalling for
time, she walked over to the window and gazed out on a small, grassy courtyard. It was pretty, but
uninspired compared to the elaborately landscaped grounds at FBT's Castle.
"What's this really about, Sam?" she asked quietly. "Are you trying to get back at me? Is that what you're
doing?"
"No! God, don't you know me any better than that? What kind of a shit do you think I am?"
She didn't say anything.
He got up from the chair, looked down at the carpet and jabbed the leg of her desk with the toe of one
of his custom-made Italian loafers. "Suzie, don't do this. Don't throw everything away because of what
happened. I got rid of Mindy. I didn't think you'd want her around, so I fired her. And I went back to the
shop and got that painting you wanted."
He was laying small gifts in front of her like a child who had misbehaved and wanted to make up with his
mother. The betrayed wife in her felt a vindictive satisfaction that Mindy had been fired. The female
corporate president noted the injustice and knew she would have to correct it right away.
She wasn't going to discuss their marriage, and she certainly wasn't going to discuss Mindy. "Why do you
want to sell SysVal?"
"I told you. We've made a fortune, and we need to get out now. You have to listen to me, Suzie. It's all
going to crash down. I can feel it. We need to get out while we can."
The old passion was back in his eyes, and it stirred a sense of apprehension within her. "You know
something that you're not telling me."
"When did you get so goddamn suspicious? There aren't any hidden secrets here, Susannah. Just look at
the fucking economy."
"We're not selling SysVal."
"The hell we're not. The rest of the board will go along with me. They're bean counters, Susannah. They
don't like it when I get nervous. In the end, you won't have any choice. You'd better trust me on this,
because if you don't, you're going to end up looking like a fool."
"I don't think so. I think you're the one who'll look like a fool."
"We went into this together, and I'm going to see to it that we go out together." He strode past her
toward the door. "Don't fight me on this one, Susannah. I'm warning you. If you fight me, it'll be the last
big mistake you make with this company."
* * *
At three o'clock the next afternoon, when SysVal's Board of Directors convened, Mitch, Susannah, and
Yank were conspicuously absent. Sam paced the floor of the boardroom while one of his assistants
scurried to locate them. The assistant returned with the news that Mitch had made an emergency trip to
Boston and that Susannah and Yank were nowhere to be found. The board overruled Sam's objection
and voted to postpone their meeting.
Sam stalked out into the corridor. He couldn't believe she was defying him like this, that she was being so
goddamn stubborn about everything. He should have known she would freak if she ever found out he
slept with other women. She didn't understand that sort of shit didn't mean anything. She didn't
understand that she was the only woman he wanted to spend his life with.
When he reached his office, he pushed through the line of people waiting in the reception area to see him
and told his assistants they had fifteen minutes to find out where she was. Then he shut himself in his
private office. She wanted a baby. Okay, he'd tell her a baby was okay. Maybe having a kid was what
he needed. Maybe it would settle him down.
He realized he was sweating. Jesus, he was scared. Everything was happening so fast. Somehow he had
to convince his partners to sell SysVal. And he had to get Susannah back. Not because of the company,
either. Because of him.
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