Grace stared at him.
“Cleared?” she repeated.
Richard seemed to realize too late that he had chosen the wrong word.
“Relocated,” he corrected.
“No one offered to relocate us.”
“There is a process.”
“The process was letting our rooms freeze?”
Richard turned to Liam.
“You know how these transitions work.
If we repair every failing system in a property scheduled for redevelopment, we waste capital that should go toward reconstruction.”
Liam looked back at the notice.
“You delayed heat repairs in December to protect a renovation budget.”
“I authorized a temporary spending hold pending inspection.”
“With infants living there.”
“I did not know there was an infant in her room.”
Grace’s phone remained on the table between them.
Her first message had clearly said there was.
Liam pressed the next recording.
A man’s voice identified himself as an assistant in Richard’s office.
He said the repair request had been reviewed and denied until the next quarterly maintenance cycle.
Richard stepped forward.
“Turn that off.”
Liam did not move.
The recording continued.
The assistant warned the Marlowe manager not to create a paper trail by submitting another emergency request.
If tenants could not tolerate the conditions, he said, early departures would only make the redevelopment easier.
Grace watched Richard’s face lose color.
“I never told him to say that,” Richard said.
“But your office denied the repair,” Liam replied.
“Based on incomplete information.”
“You received information about a baby.”
Richard’s gaze cut toward Grace.
The contempt he had hidden behind polished manners finally surfaced.
“You expect us to redesign a multimillion-dollar plan because one tenant made an emotional phone call?”
Grace stiffened.
Ethan looked up at his father.
“Noah could have died.”
No one corrected him.
The family doctor had said the same thing more gently over the phone.
Noah needed to be examined that night.
His temperature was rising, but too slowly, and his breathing remained shallow.
Liam stood.
“Dinner is over,” he said.
Richard blinked.
“You cannot be serious.”
“I am sending everyone home.”
Several guests immediately reached for their coats.
They had come expecting a private Christmas meal with one of the city’s most powerful men.
Now they were leaving with the knowledge that his company had allowed families to live without heat.
Richard remained where he was.
“We need to discuss how this looks,” he said.
Liam’s expression sharpened.
“A child was carried through my gate half-conscious from the cold, and you are still discussing appearances.”
Richard lowered his voice.
“One public accusation could damage the entire company.”
“This is not an accusation anymore.” Liam tapped the envelope.
