Power Play: A Novel by Danielle Steel Page A

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 wasbluffing, 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 retraction 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. Hehad 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