The Secret Heiress (43 page)

Nikoletta rose to her feet angrily. “You’re nothing but a two-bit hustler,” she snarled in a low voice. “And you’ve gotten yourself in over your head. Way in over your head. Just wait! I’ll get out of here, and when I do I’ll get
you
and I’ll get
her
. You haven’t seen anything yet! This battle has just begun, and you’re both losers.”

Matt walked to the door and put his hand on the handle. “I don’t want to do battle with you,” he said, “but if I have to,
you’re
the one who’s going to be sorry.” He pointed a finger at her. “And don’t even think about harming your sister.”

“Get out!” she screamed.

“I was just leaving,” he said calmly.

T
he entire board of PPHL was gathered around the table in the boardroom of the new headquarters. At its head sat Ariadne, who had called a special meeting.

“I’ve written a memo, and each of you has a copy in front of you,” she said. “I’m not going to read it now or ask you to, but I want you to take it home with you today and read it very carefully. There are going to be some monumental changes at PPHL, in a number of different ways. In our business practices in general and in many more specific ways that are indicated in the memo. If after reading it, any of you disagrees with any part of it, I would ask that you immediately turn in your resignation from the board to me.”

The room filled with muffled sounds of surprise. Ariadne looked around the table and cleared her throat before continuing. “For one, PPHL is going to put in place a number of ecofriendly policies. I will order major plant and environment cleanups, improvement of working conditions, more adequate health care, and other policies that some of you may object to. There is no question the bottom line is going to suffer. Profits are inevitably going to drop. But while these changes may be costly to PPHL, they are going to be beneficial to our employees, their immediate workplace environment, and the environment of the world in general. And, I believe, beneficial to PPHL in the long run.”

Adrian beamed at her with pride. She was doing a remarkable job, he thought.

“Are there any questions?” Ariadne asked.

“I have just one,” Adrian said. He was feeding her the question as they had arranged beforehand. It was a good way, they thought, to get the new guiding principles across to the rest of the board.

“If you don’t mind, could you explain what’s brought about this reversal in so many of PPHL’s policies? This is quite sudden, it seems to me, and I think it is to other board members as well.”

Ariadne nodded. “Naturally you would be curious about that,” she said. She tapped the paper, indicating its contents. “I’ve come to realize that a lot of PPHL’s policies are creating environmental hazards beyond what I ever imagined. In the last few weeks I’ve taken the opportunity to visit many of our facilities incognito, and I believe we must—no matter what the costs—change the way we’re operating these facilities. I don’t condone the violent tactics employed by organizations like Mother Earth’s Children, but I think we have a lot to learn from the environmentalists.”

With her last comment Ariadne heard shifting chairs and coughs. She had definitely made some of the board members uncomfortable. “As I said earlier, if any one of you doesn’t like my new policies after you’ve read the complete memo, feel free to turn your resignation in. It’s this way—
my
way—and no other in the future.” She smiled. “Although that’s not necessarily a new policy.”

There were a few uneasy laughs in the boardroom.

“If there are no further questions, ladies and gentlemen,” she said, rising to her feet, “I have a lot to do. We will reconvene exactly a week from today, at which time I will expect your cooperation or your resignation.”

Her gaze swept around the table, but there were no raised hands nor did anyone speak. “I will see you next week.” She picked up a folder of papers and left the room. She could hear the chatter that immediately started the moment she was out the door, and smiled.
That gave them something to think about,
she thought.

Back in her office, she had hardly sat down before she was joined by Sugar, Adrian, Yves, and Angelo.

“You did a fantastic job,” Sugar said.

Angelo patted her shoulder and brushed the top of her head with a kiss. “You’re one hell of an angel,” he said. “Nothing in the world could make me happier than what you just did in there.”

“One hell of an angel,” Ariadne repeated with a laugh. “I love that description, Angelo.”

“When are you going to let the public relations department release that new information you gave them?” Adrian asked.

“Later this week,” Ariadne said. “I’m hoping it will be in the Sunday newspapers and on television and radio news shows over the weekend, too. More coverage that way.”

“I don’t think you’re going to have a problem with coverage, sweetheart,” Sugar said as if it was an understatement. “Your donations are going to be front-page news.”

“I hope so,” Ariadne said. “I’ve been very careful about choosing which organizations to donate the money to, and I’ve deliberately made these first few donations really huge ones to generate the maximum amount of publicity. Later on, I’ll be donating smaller amounts to worthy organizations here and there.”

“It’s a very clever ploy,” Adrian said. “The whole world is going to know that Nikoletta Papadaki has become an ecosensitive industrialist.”

“It’s not just a ploy, Adrian,” Ariadne said sternly. “I really believe in these organizations and the work that they’re doing.”

“Another great thing about it is that there are going to be other companies who’ll follow your lead,” Sugar said.

“Exactly,” Ariadne said. “I hope our step forward will be the start of a movement.”

Adrian rose to his feet and kissed her cheek. “I’ve got a lot of work to do, so I’d better get going. You’re doing a terrific job, and I think I speak for everyone when I say that.”

“Thanks, Adrian.”

 

After work, she went directly upstairs to the penthouse, where Matt was waiting for her. He took her into his arms and kissed her. “I’m so glad to see you,” he said, nuzzling her neck.

“And I’m glad to see you, too,” she replied. “I’m always glad to see you.”

“I thought I would take you out to dinner tonight. We can celebrate the decision we came to about my work,” Matt said.

“That would be wonderful.”

“Someplace small and quiet, where nobody will know Nikoletta Papadaki.”

“Even better,” she said with a laugh. “If there is such a place.”

“I’m sure there is,” Matt said, “if it’s inexpensive, unpopular, and not part of a scene.”

She leaned back from him. “How did getting set up for your work go?” she asked. “You think the space is going to be okay?”

“It went fine,” Matt responded, “and the space is amazing. Why don’t we have a glass of wine, and I’ll tell you about it? Better yet, why don’t we go up there?”

“An excellent suggestion.”

“I’ll be right back.” He let go of her, and Ariadne sat down on a couch and kicked off her shoes, then wiggled her toes. Someday, she thought, she might actually get used to wearing high heels, but not anytime soon.

Matt returned with a bottle of chilled white wine and two glasses. “Ready?”

“Yes.” In her bare feet she walked up to the top floor of the triplex with him. There they settled down on a couch in the mammoth glass-enclosed space that Nikoletta had planned to use as a party room.

“Oh, my God,” Ariadne exclaimed as she looked about. There were several worktables, some of them displaying maquettes of sculptures that he’d already made or was planning to make, tools of all kinds, racks of different woods and metals, even welder’s tanks and torches. Several pieces of sculpture in various stages of completion stood about. “You’ve done a mountain of work. I can’t believe it.”

“I had a lot of help with the movers,” Matt said. “I could never have done all this myself.”

“It’s beginning to look like a real artist’s studio,” she said excitedly.

“It is, isn’t it?” Matt put the wine and glasses down on a table, then poured their drinks. He handed her a glass.

“Thank you,” Ariadne said.

He slid an arm around her shoulders and kissed her. “Cheers,” he said, clinking his glass against hers.

“Cheers.”

They both took a sip of wine before Matt turned to her. “You’ve given me the opportunity I’ve been looking for, for as long as I can remember, and I’m going to work very hard to prove myself.”

“You’ve already done that, as far as I’m concerned,” Ariadne said, “and I think you know that.”

“Hearing that from you means the world to me, Ariadne, but I want . . . well, I guess you’d say that I want validation from the outside world.”

“You mean the New York art world?”

He nodded. “That’s part of it certainly.”

“I’m sure it’ll happen if you want it to,” she said. “I’ve loved your sculpture from the moment I first set eyes on it at your place in the Berkshires—”

“Our place,” he corrected her.

“Hmmm?”

“It’s
our
place in the Berkshires now.”

“And I love it,” she said. “It’ll sure be a welcome hideaway.” She kissed his cheek. “Anyway, I’m certain a lot of other people are going to love your work, too.”

“I hope so because I want to be able to pay my way.”

“I know you do.”

He set his glass down and waved an arm around. “This means so much to me. You can’t imagine.” He took her into his arms and hugged her to him. “I love you so much.”

Ariadne set her glass down. “I love you, too, Matt.”

He kissed her passionately, then drew back. “Why don’t we stay in tonight? Do you mind?”

She shook her head. “I’d love that.”

“We could order in.” He kissed her deeply. “In a while.”

“Hmmm, in a while.”

“Want to finish your wine in the bedroom?”

“Oh, yes.”

“
W
hat shit!”Kees Vanmeerendonk threw the newspaper across the room, its pages flying apart and leaving a trail across the floor. “What’s wrong?” asked the girl who came out of the bathroom, toweling her short-cropped hair.

“Oh, it’s all this crap the newspapers are printing about Nikoletta Papadaki. You’d think she’d turned into the Virgin Mary or something.”

“What is it now?”

“Front-page news in the
New York Times
about her latest contribution to an environmental organization,” he replied. “The largest they’ve ever received. Then there’s an article in the business section about the change in policies at PPHL. How they’re increasing workers’ benefits, cleaning up plant sites, all that kind of garbage.”

“It must be true,” the girl said. “How can they print it if it isn’t?”

“You don’t understand, Melanie,” he told her. “What they’re saying may be true, but that doesn’t mean that PPHL and Nikoletta Papadaki have really changed course. It only means that she’s throwing peanuts at a couple of environmental groups to get publicity about how she and the company have changed. But believe me, they haven’t changed one iota. It’s all camouflage so that they can continue to pollute and to make things even worse than they are. She’s spending a few million dollars to clean up her name, and for her that’s chump change.”

“Do you really think she’d go to all that trouble?”

Kees slammed a fist on the tabletop, making dishes and silverware jump. A half-empty bottle of wine almost toppled, but he grabbed it before it fell over. “Of course she’d go to that trouble, you idiot,” he roared.

His face was red with fury, and Melanie hung her head in shame. She hated herself for angering Kees like this, but she had yet to learn what would set him off. It seemed to her that he was always like a bomb ready to explode, ever since she’d gotten to know him after the meeting in London. “I’m sorry, Kees,” she said. “I didn’t mean—”