Second, she had been watching the company too.
The hard drive contains board files, audit summaries, leadership evaluations, and a recorded message labeled FOR CLAIRE ONLY. I hesitate before opening it, then click.
Margaret appears on screen from what looks like her sitting room. She is thinner than I remember, wrapped in a cream shawl, her face all angles and command. Illness has dimmed her physically but not strategically. Her eyes are clear. Terrifyingly clear.
“If you are watching this,” she says, “then Ethan has done exactly what I expected, and I am dead, which is irritating.”
Despite everything, I laugh.
She continues.
“I am not leaving you a gift, Claire. Gifts can be declined. I am leaving you a position. That is different. You have spent years in this family underestimating your own leverage because you confused kindness with passivity. Stop it.”
The camera shifts slightly, perhaps because she moved a hand.