Chapter 16 - The Smoking Room Confrontation
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Before I could answer, the memory of what had led to this moment flared behind Graham’s eyes like a burning brand.
He stood up suddenly, wiping the tears from his face with the back of his wet sleeve, his posture shifting from despair to an ugly, dangerous fury directed entirely at himself and the world he had cultivated.
"Wait here," he rasped. "Don't leave this room. Please, Elena... just give me two hours."
Without waiting for my response, Graham ran back down the stairs, jumped into his car, and sped through the heavy rain toward the private city club downtown.
Twenty minutes later, Graham shoved open the doors of the exclusive library lounge at the Charleston Club.
Sitting in leather armchairs near the fireplace were Julian Vance and Arthur Miller, smoking cigars and reviewing port authority shipping bonds.
Julian looked up, startled by Graham’s wild, soaked appearance. "Graham? Good lord, man, you look like you walked through a hurricane—"
Graham didn't speak. He walked across the Persian rug, grabbed Julian Vance by his lapels, and yanked the powerful commissioner out of his chair, slamming him against the dark mahogany bookshelf.
"Graham!" Arthur Miller yelled, jumping up and dropping his cigar. "Have you lost your mind?!"
"If you ever," Graham growled, his face inches from Julian’s terrified eyes, his voice trembling with psychotic rage, "if you EVER speak about my wife, my marriage, or her devotion again, I will ruin you. I will pull every dollar of my firm's capital out of your port project and watch you rot in a federal indictment."
Julian’s face went white. "Graham... it was a joke! You were agreeing with us!"
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"I was a fool!" Graham screamed into his face, tears mixing with the rain dripping from his chin. "I was an arrogant, pathetic idiot trying to impress two hollow men who don't have a single person in the world who truly loves them!"
He threw Julian back into his chair, turned on his heel, and walked out of the club, leaving two of the most powerful men in Charleston trembling in silence.
