Mara looked up. “Are you really going to have a merger that wipes my name out?” she asked. Sloane gave a small laugh and tried to make it light. “Mara, it’s not like that,” she said. She joked about how she was “too intense” about everything.
Sloane leaned in, voice softly awash with what was supposed to be kindness. “This is just business,” she said. “Take the generous payout. Start fresh. You’ll be happier.” Mara understood that Sloane was not trying to protect Ethan. She was trying to lock control in place—control that did not include Mara.