Thomas Caldwell sat forward.
“Based on this?”
“Based on what this exposed.”
“You're jeopardizing an enormous project.”
“No. I'm refusing to rush into an enormous project.”
Thomas stared at him.
Daniel's voice remained level.
“Bennett Infrastructure would be responsible for public-facing operations, safety systems, vendor oversight, and long-term project integrity. If senior people inside this partnership believe status determines who deserves respect, I need to understand whether that attitude exists anywhere that actually affects the project.”
Thomas opened his mouth.
Daniel stopped him.
“I am not claiming it does. I am saying I no longer know that it doesn't.”
That was the difference between vengeance and judgment.
He wasn't destroying them because I was his wife.
He was reconsidering whether people who behaved recklessly when they believed nobody important was watching could be trusted inside a relationship built on reputation and judgment.
Richard looked at his daughter.
Something in his face changed.
Not anger.
Disappointment.
Perhaps that hurt her more.
He turned to Daniel.
“What would this review require?”
Daniel named several conditions.
Independent ethics and governance review.
Clear executive accountability.
Confirmation of public-facing conduct policies.
Reevaluation of who would represent Mercer and Caldwell in the partnership.
Nothing dramatic.
Nothing theatrical.
No demands that Sloane be ruined.
No demand that Evan be publicly destroyed.
Just consequences.
Adult consequences.
The kind neither of them had imagined when the night began.
Thomas listened with a tight jaw.
Richard listened quietly.
When Daniel finished, Richard nodded.
“Agreed.”
Thomas turned toward him.
“Richard—”
“He's right.”
“About suspending a billion-dollar transaction because our kids behaved like idiots?”
Richard's gaze became cold.
“No. About the fact that we've spent so much time protecting them from consequences that they walked into a restaurant before the most important meeting of our year and humiliated someone for entertainment.”
Sloane looked as though he'd struck her.