Free The Apartment by Danielle Steel Page A

than you are, and who cares if she has a rich father? Ivan is in love with you.”
    “I hope you’re right,” Abby said, sounding calmer and more confident than she felt. They both went to bed a little while later, and Claire strongly suspected that Ivan was cheating on her friend, and had before, possibly many times. There were so many nights he didn’t spend with her, with thinly veiled excuses, or just didn’t show up, or wouldn’t answer his cell when Abby called. But Abby always gave him the benefit of the doubt.
    Sasha had already gone to bed long before, exhausted from work, and relaxed after the happy evening Max had provided for them.
    Max left before the others got up the next morning, and whispered to Morgan that he had to go to the fish market in the Bronx, to get their fresh catch of the day. He liked to pick the fish, meat, and produce himself. Usually the cook went with him, and sometimes Max let him go on his own. He ran a tight ship at the restaurant, and everyone liked and respected him there too. He was loved by all.
    Morgan was at her office before anyone else the next day. She wanted to get ready for her first meeting, and still had research she wanted to read, and to check some numbers on her computer. There was an investment that George wanted to make, and she had promised him her opinion before the meeting. She was looking through what she had on her computer, when something caught her eye. It was just a name, on the list of directors of the fledgling company they were looking into, and something about it rang a bell. She Googled the man’s name, and saw that he had been indicted by a grand jury five years before, but the charges against him had been dropped. He had been accused of insider trading by the SEC, but he had been cleared and was never prosecuted, but she had remembered the name. She didn’t like the fact that he was one of the directors of the company, and mentioned it to George later that morning, and he laughed.
    “That was all a big mix-up, some crazy coincidence when someone in his family bought and sold some stock. Don’t worry about it—he was cleared. You get an A for doing your homework, though.” He smiled at her and looked pleased. “I’m proud of you.” But she still didn’t like the idea of their investing in a company where one of its directors had been accused of fraud, even if his name had been cleared. She was a firm believer in the theory that where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and she didn’t like the idea of having to explain it to their client. But the subject never came up, and George had told her before the meeting that it wasn’t worth mentioning, although she disagreed with him. It was one of the rare times when they didn’t agree, but he was her boss, and she followed his lead. The client was enthusiastic about the company, and they were supposed to go public in a year. It was the kind of young high-tech company that could make them all a lot of money if it took off.
    She forgot about it after the meeting, and had other files to attend to and research to do. She didn’t see George again all morning, and she had a call from Claire at noon.
    “I’m sorry to bother you at work,” she said apologetically.
    “Something wrong?”
    “No…yes…I’ve been fighting with my boss for the last month. It’s so frustrating. I need some good sound business advice.” She lowered her voice conspiratorially. “I don’t know whether to stay and tough it out, or look for another job and quit. Do you want to have dinner tomorrow night and talk about it?”
    “Sure.” Morgan was flattered to be asked, and it was obvious that Claire was troubled, and scared of what the job market would be like if she left. “Max’s at seven-thirty? I’ll tell him we want a quiet table in the back.”
    “Thank you,” Claire said, grateful and relieved. She was sure that Morgan would help her figure out the right thing to do. She had a better head for business than