Chapter 7 - The Night We Lost EverythingThe board voted 14–9 against Richard Cross.
That should have ended it.
It didn't.
The next morning, three major clients withdrew from Wren & Park.
The company's valuation collapsed.
The stock plunged.
Employees panicked.
Phones rang nonstop.
Then one of the firm's largest lenders called its debt.
Immediately.
Everett's mistake had created a vulnerability.
Richard had found it.
By noon, Wren & Park was facing a liquidity crisis.
I watched numbers on the screen.
“That's impossible.”
“It isn't,” Jonathan said.
“They've triggered the covenant.”
“Yes.”
“On purpose.”
“Yes.”
Nate stood behind me.
“What can we do?”
I looked at the balance sheet.
“Raise capital.”
“How much?”
“Two hundred million.”
The room went silent.
“Can the Cross family provide it?” Mallory asked.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because that gives Richard exactly what he wants.”
Then an idea formed.
“The clients.”
Jonathan frowned.
“What?”
“The clients who stayed.”
We built a rescue package around them.
Pension funds.
Long-term investors.
Institutional accounts.
Small shareholders.
Everyone Wren & Park had served for years.
The numbers were close.
But not enough.
We were thirty million short.
Then a message arrived.
Alden Strategic Capital is prepared to bridge the remaining amount without voting rights.
I looked at Nate.
“Your family.”
He shook his head.
“Not my father.”
“Who?”
“Me.”
I stared.
“You have thirty million?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“My mother.”
The trust held liquid assets beyond the shares.
Enough to bridge the company.
But using the assets would expose the full trust.
Jonathan warned him.
“You'd be making your control public.”
Nate looked at me.
“I stopped caring about hiding.”
The financing closed at 11:58 p.m.
Wren & Park survived.
The next morning, the headlines changed.
Cross Heir Saves Investment Firm From Collapse
Richard Cross was furious.
Then he did the one thing nobody expected.
He disappeared.
His attorneys stopped answering.
His private jet was sold.
Several accounts were frozen.
Investigators began examining his companies.
For the first time, his empire looked fragile.
But fragility was not defeat.
Nate and I knew that.
One week later, the police came to my apartment.
Not for me.
For Nate.
They had found evidence tying Richard to financial fraud.
Nate was asked to cooperate.
He agreed.
“I don't want revenge,” he told the detective.
“I want the truth.”
That night, we sat on the floor surrounded by legal documents.
I looked at him.
“Are you okay?”
“No.”
He laughed.
“But I think I'm finally honest.”
I smiled.
“That's progress.”
He took my hand.
“I need to tell you something.”
“What?”
“I loved you before I knew your mother was involved.”
“I know.”
“I loved you before I knew about the trust.”
“I know.”
“I loved you when I thought you were just Naomi.”
I smiled.
“Just Naomi?”
“The most terrifying woman I've ever met.”
“Good.”
He kissed my hand.
Then he said:
“I want a life where our money doesn't matter.”
I looked at him.
“I already have one.”
He smiled.
“Do you?”
I thought about my savings.
My career.
The apartment.
The chaos.
“No,” I said.
“Then let's build it.”
Three days later, we moved out of the city.
Not forever.
Just for a weekend.
A small inn near the Hudson.
No lawyers.
No boardrooms.
No trust documents.
Just us.
On Saturday morning, Nate made coffee badly.
“You're terrible at this.”
“I inherited many things.”
“Coffee isn't one.”
He smiled.
“I'm learning.”
We walked along the river.
Then he stopped.
“I have something for you.”
He pulled a small box from his pocket.
My heart jumped.
Inside was my mother's old watch.
The one I thought had been stolen years earlier.
“How?”
“Your mother left it in the trust.”
I touched the glass.
A tiny crack ran across the face.
“You fixed it.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“I wanted you to see that I knew it was valuable even when it was broken.”
My eyes filled with tears.
“Nate.”
“I don't have a perfect way to ask you this.”
He got down on one knee.
I started laughing and crying at the same time.
“Not now.”
“Too late.”
“Nate.”
“Naomi Keller, I don't want your money.”
I laughed.
“I know.”
“I don't want your trust because of a legal clause.”
“I know.”
“I want you because when everything fell apart, you stayed.”
He held out the ring.
“Will you marry me?”
I looked at the man who had once been a stranger fixing my car in the rain.
Then at the billionaire heir who had tried to become invisible.
Then at the man in front of me.
Just Nate.
“Yes.”
He stood.
We kissed beside the river.
For one perfect afternoon, we believed the worst was over.
Then my phone rang.
Jonathan.
His voice was urgent.
“Naomi.”
“What happened?”
“We found Richard.”
“Where?”
“In London.”
“Is he arrested?”
“No.”
“Then why are you calling?”
Jonathan paused.
“Because he isn't running.”
May you like
“Then what is he doing?”
“He's preparing to come back.”
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