One by One - Ruth Ware Page 0,28

murmur of assent. Ani, Inigo, Carl, Miranda, and Tiger rise and begin to file out.

Within a few seconds it’s just Topher, Eva, Rik, Elliot… and me.

Oh God. I feel my breath coming fast. Oh God, oh God, oh God… they’re going to ask and I’m going to have to—to have to—

“Look,” Eva is saying, “I think the cold, hard reality of Rik’s figures wasn’t lost on any of us. It’s a pretty stark picture. Our overheads—”

“I don’t want to go over all that again,” Topher says dismissively, as if the profit and loss sheets Rik just took us through were totally irrelevant. “We can all read a spreadsheet, and Rik made his points very ably. Before we head out, I think it would be really helpful to take an indicative vote, so we know where we stand.”

My breath quickens. The headache behind my eyes intensifies until the edges of my vision begin to fray.

“But, Topher,” Eva is saying, “you know perfectly well that we don’t have full information yet; that’s the point of this week, to weigh up all—”

“And it’s why I said indicative,” Topher interrupts, a touch of aggression creeping into his voice. “This is nonbinding, Eva. It’s just a show of hands to see where we are. It’s possible we’re already close to an agreement.”

Eva says nothing. She glances at me, and I know what she is thinking, and I know she can’t figure out how to head Topher off from this. He is like a mule when he puts his mind to something. He just pushes, and pushes, and pushes…

Elliot also says nothing, of course, but we all know what his silence means—support for Topher. It’s what it always means. Elliot doesn’t care about anything except for code. For everything else, he defers to Topher.

“Rik?” Eva says. Her tone is brittle.

“Why not?” Rik says. His acquiescence surprises me.

“So,” Topher says, in a slightly mollifying voice. “As before, in a nonbinding show of hands, who’s in favor of the buyout?”

“Me,” Rik says.

“And me,” Eva adds. There is a long silence, and I can feel the tension as they wait. When Topher speaks again, there is satisfaction in his tone, like a cat that’s got the cream.

“Great, and who’s against?”

“Me.” Elliot’s deep monotone makes the word sound like a full stop.

“And me, obviously,” Topher says. There is another pause, and then he says, as if attempting to sound more casual than he really is. “And… um, what’s your vote, Liz?”

I swallow. There is something hard stuck in my throat, and I realize that I haven’t spoken since I got up this morning. No one talked to me at breakfast. No one asked my opinion at the meeting. I don’t know if I can trust my voice when I speak.

“Liz?” Eva says. I can tell that she is trying not to pressure me, but at the same time, the edge in her tone shows clear.

“I—” There is a crack in my voice, it is croaky with disuse. I swallow again, vainly forcing down the obstacle that feels like it is choking me. “I don’t know.”

“Come on, Liz,” Rik says, and though he is trying to sound jolly and supportive, there is impatience in his tone as well. “You must have an idea of how you feel. Do you want twelve million, yes or no? It’s not a hard question.”

“Or,” Topher says, and the sharpness makes me flinch, “do you want shares worth potentially much more if we retain control and go public.”

“If we retain control and manage to remain solvent,” Rik shoots back.

“For fuck’s sake, Rik—” Topher snaps, and I feel the panic in my chest begin to explode like a slow but inexorable chemical reaction. Before it can escape, Eva stands up, holding out her hands, putting herself physically between them.

“Guys, guys, come on. We’ve got plenty of time to go through the question of a public offering, now’s not the time. Liz, am I to take it that you can’t give us an indication right now?”

I can’t bring myself to speak, I just make a swing of my head that could be yes, or could be no. Eva smiles, and crosses the room to take my hand. She squeezes it reassuringly, the scent of her perfume druglike and headily overwhelming in the small room.

“No problem, okay, well in view of that, I suggest we all head up to our rooms to get ready, and we can go through the issues Rik raised in more detail after lunch. Agreed?”

There