The Proviso Read Online Free PDF

Suspect Number One for his bride’s
death on the basis of his reputation alone, which preceded him all
the way to Washington.
    In a sidebar:
     
    *
     
    Yesterday, OKHE stock price plummeted in the wake of
another of Sebastian Taight’s mass buys. The SEC is expected to
disallow any more buys by Taight if he does not account for his
voting record as a majority shareholder. In addition, there are
some murmurings on Capitol Hill about the legitimacy and legality
of Taight’s raids.
    Senator Roger Oth (R-Penn.), Taight’s most vocal
opponent, said today, “He and businessmen like him need to be
brought to heel by someone with some power. As far as I can see,
Congress is the only entity with that kind of power.” Before being
elected to office, Senator Oth was the CEO of Jep Industries, a
company Taight dismantled after having been hired to restructure
and streamline its operations. Taight would give no reason for his
decision to break Jep Industries.
     
    *
     
    And Sebastian Taight was the monkey wrench in the
power play between OKH’s current CEO and its heir. Venture
capitalist Taight had his fingers in so many pies, nobody could
keep track of them all; he even speculated heavily in art. Wall
Street had given up trying to figure him out years ago. Though
scrupulously honest, he had a reputation for taking any leverage
where he could get it, being completely ruthless about it, and
remaining silent to the press. The drumbeats on Capitol Hill
calling for Taight’s head got a little louder every time he thumbed
his nose at the SEC, every time he refused to explain his
Fix-or-Raid policy. His aggressive takeover of OKH had sharply
increased the Senate’s interest in hauling him before a panel
hearing.
    Taight had the power to crush both Fen and Knox
Hilliard and to all appearances, he had begun the process. Until
the night of Leah’s visitation, Bryce, along with the rest of the
financial industry, had assumed Taight to be on the warpath with
both Hilliards, but now . . .
    Before Lilith— Giselle —had caught his eye,
Bryce had observed Taight shouldering up with Knox, giving him
support, not leaving him to face the cream of society (Bryce
couldn’t really call them mourners ) alone. The men were
cousins, but they acted more like brothers. No, Taight wasn’t at
war with Knox, which only left the question of why he wanted OKH so
badly he was willing to destroy it to get it away from both Fen and
Knox—and why Knox treated him like a brother anyway.
    Fen Hilliard, Sebastian Taight, and Knox Hilliard,
three of the most brilliant men in the Midwest, were a family very
publicly at war. Whatever else had gone wrong in that family, their
collective genius couldn’t be dismissed.
    Bryce’s email dinged and he glanced at it to see if
it required immediate attention. The art gallery that had Lilith . His eyes widened and he clicked on the subject
line.
     
    *
     
    Subject: Lilith
     
    Dear Mr. Kenard,
     
    Thank you for your inquiry regarding Lilith by the Hon. John Collier. We regret to inform you that the painting
is not for sale. Please let us know if there is anything else we
may be able to help you with.
     
    M. Stevens,
    Curator
     
    *
     
    Though Bryce knew he wouldn’t have been able to have
it at any price, disappointment still struck him behind his
breastbone. He went to a website he’d bookmarked and pulled up Lilith . As he stared at it, he wondered what it would take
to possess the real one, the one in the little black dress who
answered to the name of Giselle.
    * * * * *
     
     
     
     
    4: NO
STATIC AT ALL
    OCTOBER 2004
     
    Justice bounced along the rutted driveway toward the
farmhouse, her old car’s struts unable to absorb the shocks. Truly,
she didn’t know how much longer it could take the eighty-four-mile
round-trip commute from River Glen to the University of Missouri at
Kansas City three days a week. If she believed in a God at all,
she’d be on her knees the other four days begging for