Power Play: A Novel Page 8

  It was the worst thing that had ever happened to him, and he was terrified that his career was about to go down the tubes and everything he had built for UPI, and personally, would be destroyed. He was horrified by his accuser’s claims and badly shaken. He hardly slept that night and was awake before dawn. He lay there for a long time, not wanting to disturb Liz, and then got out of bed and stood and watched the sun come up.

  “You’re up?” Liz asked when she saw him and he nodded.

  “I’m scared,” he said softly.

  “You’ll be okay,” she said, coming to stand with him, and put her arms around him.

  “I don’t deserve you,” he said humbly.

  “Yes, you do,” she insisted, and believed it with her whole heart.

  Liz held him in her arms again for a long moment before he left for work that day, and assured him of how much she loved him, and that he had her full support. She never wavered for an instant, and he thanked her again. And on the way to work that morning, in the Aston Martin, Marshall took comfort in knowing that the board was behind him, and trusted him. He knew that despite what had happened, he was a lucky man. And all he wanted to do now was get this over with and put it behind him as fast as he could.

  Chapter 7

  Marshall didn’t leave for L.A. on Wednesday that week. Instead, two days after he learned of Megan Wheeler’s accusation, she and her attorney came to a conference room at UPI in the morning, to meet with Marshall and Simon Stern. She sat across the table from Marshall and her eyes bored into his. Her attorney repeated her accusation, and stuck to her story about their affair. She didn’t hesitate or even appear nervous as she listened to what he said and nodded confirmation. She did not try to avoid Marshall’s eyes, and she wore a tight black dress and stiletto heels to the meeting. She had made no attempt to look demure, and had done everything possible to show off her spectacular figure. She looked racy and overdressed for an early-morning business meeting, but she was also very attractive. She was a good-looking woman, somewhere in her late thirties. And halfway through the meeting, her attorney handed a manila envelope to Simon Stern, after reiterating the damages his client had sustained from being fired from her job. He claimed that she had closed her own party-planning business after being hired by UPI, and had been unable to get it going again, after she was let go. And he spoke of her emotional distress from their affair, as the muscles tensed in Marshall’s jaw.

  Simon carefully opened the envelope and took two letters out of it, and copies of several e-mails, all allegedly written to her by Marshall. He read them expressionlessly, and then handed them to Marshall for him to read as well. The letters were written on a computer, and none of the missives were personally signed.

  “How do we know Ms. Wheeler didn’t write these herself, to falsely incriminate Mr. Weston?” The letters were full of sexual references to nights they had spent together, and the sexual acts they had engaged in. They were painfully explicit. And then her attorney handed Simon the pièce de résistance, a smaller envelope that contained two photographs of Marshall’s accuser stark naked in suggestive positions, taken by a man you could see clearly in a mirror. It appeared to be Marshall, equally naked, and another one of him alone, also naked, and apparently asleep on a bed. It was undeniable evidence that they had been together in a sexual way. Simon handed the photographs to Marshall without a word. And nothing about the photographs appeared to have been doctored. They were taken with a proper camera, not her cell phone, and the man in the photographs was Marshall.

  Marshall’s face was pale as he sat across the table from her with no sign of acknowledgment or recognition. And she met his eyes without flinching. This was business to her and nothing else. There was no talk of broken promises, broken hearts, or unrequited love. This was blackmail, pure and simple. They had had sex with each other, he had hired and then fired her, and she was seeking revenge. Her anger had a price, a big one.

  Simon reacted immediately, as he put the photographs back in the envelope. They were only copies, and it was obvious that she had kept the negatives. They were the best bargaining chip she had.

  “We are prepared to offer Ms. Wheeler a million dollars for her time and trouble, in exchange for complete confidentiality about this affair and a retraction of her accusations against Mr. Weston,” Simon said to her attorney. The board had given their permission to go as high as two million. Marshall was worth it to them, as the most competent CEO they’d ever had. He was the best thing that had ever happened to UPI. They didn’t care if he was innocent or guilty, all they wanted was for Megan Wheeler to disappear, preferably before she went to the press. She had waited just over a year to come forward after the affair ended and she’d been fired. And the attorney she had consulted had convinced her to threaten a suit, and shoot for a handsome settlement. Her attorney looked unimpressed by Simon’s offer, and then gave them another piece of stunning news.

  “I think we should tell you that we issued a statement to the press this morning, that Mr. Weston had an affair with my client and caused her to be fired from UPI after she ended it, and we are suing for sexual harassment and damages.” It was a simple factual statement of their intentions, devoid of emotion. The attorney looked sleazy but was smart, and so was Megan Wheeler.

  Marshall looked instantly ill, and Simon tried not to react and didn’t glance at his client.

  “That seems like an extremely unwise thing to have done, and premature, while we are trying to negotiate with you in good faith.”

  “There is no good faith here,” her attorney said bluntly. “Your client had sex with mine, as CEO of this company. He used his influence and power to get her hired, possibly to induce her to have sex with him, and then to get her fired when she stopped. And she had had chemotherapy and radiation for breast cancer six months before, which she told him. It seems pretty clear cut to me. She is a cancer survivor, and he took gross advantage of her.”

  “What seems clear cut to me is that Ms. Wheeler wants to be paid a great deal of money for having had sex with my client. There’s a name for that. Extortion, or worse,” Simon said with a steely look at the opposing attorney. “And giving a statement to the press about it is only going to make this harder. You’ve already damaged my client’s reputation. Why should we pay you anything now?” He had a point. “If we agree to pay your client anything, we will expect her to recant what she said, and admit publicly that her claims against Mr. Weston were false. We will want the negatives of those photographs and the original letters. And we will offer her two million, and that’s our final offer.” Simon Stern seemed as though he meant it and gave Marshall a look that told him to remain silent. And Marshall could see pleasure register in Megan Wheeler’s eyes. She saw pure hatred in his. They never exchanged a word.

  “Your CEO’s reputation should be worth a lot more,” the lawyer said, trying to figure out how far he could go, but he hit a wall with his tactic. Simon had run out of patience. He wasn’t happy with the situation Marshall had put them in, but it was his job to get him out of it, not to pass judgment, which was also the wish of the board, which had vowed to support Marshall against the claim.

  “We don’t pay blackmail,” Simon said quietly. “We negotiate. We just did. Two million, and that’s it, or we’ll go to trial on this, and win.” With the photographs he knew they wouldn’t. Simon was bluffing, but he wouldn’t budge an inch. And Megan Wheeler didn’t want to take the chance of losing the money, nor did her lawyer.

  “As a breast cancer survivor, I think Ms. Wheeler deserves at least three.”

  “He didn’t give her cancer,” Simon said as he stood up and signaled to Marshall to do the same. The meeting was over. They started to leave the conference table, and the other lawyer looked at his client and she nodded. She wanted the money. Two million was enough for her.

  “We accept your offer,” her lawyer said quickly.

  “I assume the story is all over the press and the Internet by now. I expect a full retrac
tion from your client by end of business today,” Simon said coldly. “With a signed confidentiality agreement,” he added.

  “As soon as we have the check,” the attorney said, and stood up too.

  “I’ll take care of it right away,” Simon said, and left the room with Marshall just behind him. They rode up in the elevator in silence, and didn’t speak until they got to Marshall’s office.

  “I’m sorry,” Marshall said in a choked voice to the attorney. “I had no idea she had those pictures. I must have been drunk out of my mind. Maybe she drugged me,” he said weakly, and Simon didn’t comment. She hadn’t drugged him for eight months, or forced him to give her a job. It was a nasty situation and had just cost UPI two million dollars for his little fling. Personally, he didn’t like what had happened, nor Marshall lying to him about it, but it was not his place to judge him, just to solve the problem. “I’ll call Connie right away,” Marshall said quietly as Simon nodded and left his office. He had to draw up the agreement for Megan Wheeler to sign. He had promised to messenger it to her attorney’s office by that afternoon.

  Calling Connie Feinberg to tell her what had happened was one of the worst calls Marshall had ever made. He had no choice now but to tell her the truth, and he offered to pay the two million dollars himself.

  “If you do, it will eventually come out that you did, and that will implicate you further and cause a bigger scandal. I think our only recourse here is to pay her the money, and have her retract her accusations publicly. It makes more sense for UPI to settle with her than for you to do it. Corporations settle legal claims to avoid lawsuits, whether bogus or not. If you pay her, it sounds like blackmail. If we pay her, you won’t look as guilty, it’s just another lawsuit. We can take it out of your bonus at the end of the year, if that’s what the board decides and you’re amenable to it.” It was a rap on the knuckles, instead of something far worse, and sounded reasonable to him, and he was more than willing to lose two million of his annual bonus to save his neck and career, and grateful for it. “I think, more than likely,” she said quietly, “the board will decide that this episode is the price to pay for an exceptionally competent CEO. These things have happened at other companies, and everyone survives. People will forget it in the end.” Her voice was cool and calm. It was obvious that she wasn’t happy with the situation, but the board had agreed to support him unconditionally, and she was relieved it hadn’t cost them more, which it easily could have, if the Wheeler woman and her attorney had been even greedier.

  “I don’t know how to tell you how grateful I am, and how sorry. I promise you that nothing like it will ever happen again.”

  “I’m sure it won’t,” she said kindly. “I know that these things happen. But let’s hope it never does again. It was an expensive mistake. I’m going to have Simon write the statement for her to give to the press, retracting her accusations.”

  “I think he’s working on it now.”

  “We’ll have to let the stockholders know that we paid her a settlement to avoid the time, expense, and bad publicity of a lawsuit. And she retracted her false claims, and we’re considering the expense an early installment of your bonus, from what you’d get at the end of the year anyway.” It was far less than his projected bonus, so it shouldn’t upset anyone unduly. What he wanted to be sure of now was that Liz would never know his accuser’s claims had been true. He could tell Liz that they had been forced to settle with her to avoid further scandal and a lengthy lawsuit. But he would say nothing about the photographs and letters. There was no reason Liz would ever know, and his reputation would be salvaged. All they had to live through now was the scandal in the press for a few hours until she made her statement, hopefully by the end of the day.

  He called Liz after he spoke to Connie, and warned her that there would be some ugly stories in the press that day, as part of the pressure Wheeler was putting on him to settle, but they would be recanted by tonight or tomorrow, and the threatened suit had been settled, and she had gotten honest and was retracting her claim.

  “Is everything okay?” Liz asked, sounding panicked.

  “It will be soon. She wouldn’t back down unless we paid her a settlement. It’s extortion, but the board doesn’t want to deal with a lawsuit, even if we won. It will all be over soon. And you’d better warn the kids about what will be on the news today. You can tell them it was all a lie.” What mattered most to him was that Liz believed him and would never know the truth. Of that he was now sure. And after he spoke to Liz, he called Ashley from his office. He warned her of what would be on the news that day, and he said it was all posturing over a threatened lawsuit, based on a false claim of sexual harassment, made by a disgruntled employee who had been fired, and tried to take revenge on him for it. It sounded sensible to him and was a plausible explanation for what had happened.

  “What the hell is that about?” Ashley said, instantly suspicious. But Marshall was calm now. The nightmare was almost over. And he sounded quiet and confident when he answered. He was no longer frightened or panicked, now that he knew his career wasn’t at stake.

  “It’s just an employee who tried to extort money from us. It happens. We were forced to settle with her, to get rid of her, and she’s going to admit later today that her claims were false.”

  “Were they? Or did you have to buy her off because she was telling the truth?” Ashley asked the right questions, but Marshall had ready answers.

  “If she were telling the truth, she wouldn’t have settled and would have won the suit. We would have won in court, but the board didn’t want to go through it,” Marshall said matter-of-factly. “I never had an affair with her, Ashley. Her accusations were false. Liz believes me. And so does the board. I hope you do too.” He sounded faintly hurt that she was doubting him at all, and she hesitated for a long moment before she answered.

  “I know you better than Liz does. I know you’re capable of having an affair and lying to her about it.” Her argument was hard to refute, and he didn’t try.

  “I don’t consider us an affair,” Marshall said, sounding offended. “We’ve lasted longer than most marriages. We have two children, and hopefully a future. This woman came out of left field, and is nothing more than a bimbo with a sleazy lawyer trying to extort money. Women like her do that.”

  “I hope you’re telling me the truth,” Ashley said sadly.

  “I don’t need to sleep with anyone but you,” he said in a voice filled with emotion. “I’ll be in L.A. tomorrow. We can talk about it then. I just wanted to let you know what would be on the news today, and not to worry about it.” He sounded innocent and reassuring, and very loving.

  “Thank you,” she said, but her tone was as confused as she felt. And when she saw it on the noon news an hour later, despite his warnings, she felt sick. The story had the ring of truth to her. And Bonnie called her five minutes later. She had just seen it on the Internet.

  “What the hell is going on with Marshall?” Bonnie was stunned.

  “Marshall says the woman is crazy, and tried to extort money from him. She’s an employee they fired and she’s pissed about it, so she drummed up a sexual harassment suit to shake the company down for money,” Ashley explained, as Marshall had to her earlier. “They just made a settlement with her, and she’s going to admit her claims were false by the end of the day. I guess it’s what people do to large corporations. They sue, so they can settle and get money.”

  “I wonder what that cost them,” Bonnie said cynically, and Ashley didn’t want to concede to her that she didn’t know what to believe and had her doubts about it too. He seemed like he was telling her the truth when he said he had never had an affair with her, but she no longer knew what to believe, or who. Hearing about it on TV had shaken Ashley’s faith in him.

  * * *

  By two o’clock the check had been drawn up and delivered to Megan Wheeler’s attorney, and she had signed the agreement, of both confidentiality and retraction. And her statement clearing Mar
shall was released in time to make the five o’clock news. The story had come and gone in a single day. And everyone knew that claims like that were occasionally made against the heads of major corporations, or men in power generally, and were often false. And sometimes true.

  The board had asked Marshall to hold a press conference at the end of the day, after her announcement, which he did, with a pained look, wearing a well-cut dark suit, a white shirt, and a sober tie, with Liz standing beside him. He issued a brief statement, expressing his gratitude for the support of UPI, the board, to Ms. Wheeler for ultimately telling the truth and admitting his innocence, and thanking his wife for her support. He smiled at Liz as he said it, and she looked dignified and loving. The camera zoomed in on their clasped hands then, and as Ashley watched them in L.A., she started to cry. Liz looked so peaceful and proud next to him, as though she had no cause for concern whatsoever. He smiled at her as they left the stage, and she followed him off camera. She looked like a confident, respectable woman who was standing by her husband. And as Ashley watched them, she knew what Bonnie would say, and maybe she was right, that he would never leave his wife. It certainly looked that way to her, and she could see the profound respect between them. She sat gulping air as she choked on sobs with a feeling of panic, and suddenly she knew instinctively that he had probably had the affair, UPI had more than likely paid to buy him out of the scandal, and he was far more married to Liz than he had ever admitted to her. She felt as though her whole world were crashing in on her. It all sounded like a lie to her now that she had seen him holding hands with Liz and the proud, assured look in her eyes. It was obvious that Liz believed her husband, but Ashley no longer did. She knew that in one brief moment, watching Liz stand next to Marshall on TV, her world had come to an end. She would never fully believe him again, or trust what he said about his allegedly dead marriage. It didn’t look dead to her.