ONE YEAR AS MRS KINGSLEY

ng had been designed to make people feel small, and it worked on

lished so flawlessly that the ceiling lights floated in it like drowned moons. At the far end hung a portrait of his grandf

e realized his father's old colleagues found it unsettling. His father's steel watch was on his left wrist. His hands were folded

y: control of the Kingsley Family Trust's voting shares, fifty-eight percent of Kingsley Group, passes to Alexander James Kingsley on the condition that he is lawfully m

k of a man who had never once been surprised by a clause. "Failing which, votin

ictor Blackwood, "the com

y. Victor said e

on him. A cream pocket square. A heavy gold ring on his left hand that had belonged to his late partner, and that he turned, now and then, with his thumb. He had taught Alexander to play chess at the age o

han in December, when everyone will be tired and sentimental." He smiled. "It's October t

ht," Alexa

f concern. "But the committee has a fiduciary duty to plan for every outcome.

am. A temporary operating protocol for the subsidiaries. N

he banks," Eleanor

t and a single strand of pearls that had been her mother's. Eleanor Whitmore Kingsley was fifty-nine years old and had never been seen to slouch,

, Eleanor. Panic is the en

of notifying lenders that t

t us all to look squarely at the fact that Alexander is not engaged. He has not been seen with a wo

oom w

table and watching his godfather lay out his own execution with such affectionate regret. If he had not

the date," A

m, the more closely people listened. "I have been aware of it for three years. I have al

man who could not hold a marriage together could not hold a company together. It was a test. A

." Alexander met his eyes. "I will b

n stopped moving. Eleanor's ga

whom?" Vi

may

miled. "Then y

ys have

had made three months ago and told no one. A decision that was not, strictly speaking, a plan at all. A

g a pawn in a game that had barely begun. "Then I withdraw the motion for

in the tone of a woman

drawn," said Gideon

ter, the meetin

chair, one gloved hand resting briefly on the back of it, and s

" he

have so

es

worn his whole life, white flowers and something green. "Your father used to

d her go, and then he stood and straightened his

his hands in his pockets and the expression of a boy who had been told to wait

"You know, if you'd told me that was a countdown

t's a legal

had gotten them both out of a great deal of trouble at Columbia. He was the Chief Operating Officer of Kingsley Group and had been Alexander's closest friend for fourteen years, and he was the on

e wil

nswer. That's a

what I

? I mean it. If you want me to, I can find you a perfectly nice, perfectly boring girl

a mistake," A

hy

his father's letter had said so, in a handwriting he knew better than hi

" He clapped Alexander on the shoulder and let go. "Fine. Keep your secre

way

thousand times, and meant it every time. It woul

ing something tuneless. Alexander pressed the call button for the pr

pened be

ng d

brella in the other hand. He crossed the carpet unhurriedly and stopped

oors closed on their reflections: the old man in navy and the young man in charcoal, standing side by si

ed there," Victor sai

nk y

g. He used to throw pens." He smiled fondly at the floor numbers. "But he always found his feet in the en

er said

uld have wanted a wife for you by now. He did always le

-one.

Only his right hand moved. It had closed, without his permission, around his left wrist, his thumb pressed ha

ot look

ther, or at the way it turned, slowly, on

the roar of Park Avenue, and Alexander Kingsley walked out into it w