Page 54 of Thrown

“Yep,” Toby said. “The grounds are ideal for all sorts of productions, and they even like the stage area you’ve got near the Renaissance village.”

He proceeded to spend the next twenty minutes outlining everything he’d talked about with Aaron Powter and giving a brief rundown of the costs and benefits of going into business with Silver Productions. There were a lot of positive points, but the deal would involve some initial financial outlay. Toby expected that the family would be able to meet those obligations without too much stress, though it would mean operating at the peak of efficiency for a few years and potentially adding new classes to the arts center’s roster.

He was convinced the meeting was going well. The family were attentive and excited about everything he suggested. It wasn’t until Mr. Hawthorne’s phone flashed with another incoming call that things started to go pear-shaped.

“Hold on, Janice,” Mr. Hawthorne said, reaching for his phone. “Geofrey Wright is calling on another line.”

Mr. Hawthorne fiddled with his phone for a moment, figuring out how to put his wife on hold to take the other call, but he didn’t manage to take it off of speaker.

“Hey, Geofrey,” he answered the call. “Can I call you back in a bit?”

“Sorry, Robert, this can’t wait,” the other man’s voice came through, loud and clear.

Mr. Hawthorne pulled the phone away from his face and stared at it, as if trying to figure out how to make the call private, but he was too late.

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” Geoffrey said, “but I woke up to a collapsing house of cards this morning.”

“What do you mean?” Mr. Hawthorne asked, giving up his efforts and holding his phone out, like he was inviting the whole family into the call.

“I don’t know what’s happening, but already this morning, the Ancient House Association and the Historical Trust of South England have pulled their grant money from Hawthorne House.”

Toby took the news like a fist in his gut.

“Wait, can they even do that?” Rebecca asked. “It’s grant money. It’s already been given.”

“It’s future grant money,” Geoffrey explained. “You haven’t received it yet, and now you’re not going to. And that’s not all.”

Toby had been standing, but he sat.

“Westfield Bank has called in your loan as due by the end of the month,” Geoffrey went on.

More than one of the people around the table and on the phone called out, “What?”

“They definitely can’t do that,” Rebecca said, looking panicked.

“Under ordinary circumstances, they can’t,” Geoffrey confirmed. “I’m looking into it, but apparently there’s someremote clause in fine print that they’re using to say that they can.”

“But that’s over a hundred thousand pounds,” Mr. Hawthorne said. “Geoff, you’re our solicitor, can’t you find a way to stop this?”

“That’s the thing,” Geoffrey said. “Something’s not right about this entire thing. I’m trying to get to the bottom of it.”

“It’s Duckworth,” Robbie said with a dark scowl. “He’s getting revenge for us turning down the deal with Willoughby Entertainment.”

“Probably,” Geoffrey said just as Toby’s phone began to ring, “but if this explosion keeps happening, you might have no other choice but to take whatever offer Willoughby Entertainment wants to give you or risk the entire estate imploding.”

Toby wanted to say that that was exactly what Duckie probably had in mind, but Philip Johnson’s name was flashing on his phone screen.

He got up and stepped to the side to answer the call.

“Mr. Johnson, hello,” he said, then rushed on with, “I’m at a meeting with the Hawthorne family, which is why?—”

“I’m going to stop you right there,” Mr. Johnson said. “I’ll keep this short and simple. You no longer work for Johnson, Johnson, and Inez. You’ve been terminated, effective immediately. Your things will be packed up and mailed to your home address.”

“But Mr. Johnson?—”

“I have nothing more to say to you, Mr. Tillman,” he was cut off. “I warned you not to cross Charles Duckworth, and you didn’t listen. Next time, maybe you will.”

“But—”

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