Page 57 of Audacity

She goes to rise from her chair. I exchange a brief, loaded glance with Athena, who purses her lips together in unspoken disapproval, and hold out my hand. ‘Torty. Wait.’

She freezes and sits fully back down. I hesitate, then push my own chair back and stand, thrusting my hands into my pockets.‘Listen. I don’t mean to overrule either of you—I’m well aware we’ve asked you to kick off this meeting, Eleanor. But I don’t want to waste people’s time here. And I think we should start in the spirit that we mean to go on.

‘At the end of the day, the Sullivans are builders, not dukes. We’re new to this, and we can build whatever we want. We don’t have centuries’ worth of expectations defining how we should act. So we shouldabsolutelybe tearing up the rule book here’—I pick up Athena’s briefing pack and brandish it for effect—‘and writing our very own.’

CHAPTER 26

Gabe

Eleanor interrupts, frowning at the briefing pack. ‘May I ask what you have there, Gabriel?’

‘I asked Athena to pull together some thoughts for me and the family,’ I reply smoothly. ‘I wanted to be fully briefed to ensure we got the most out of this time.’

Her eyes narrow, and I suspect she’s thinking that the beautiful, spiral-bound pack I’m holding represents far more than “some thoughts”.

‘Someone from Torty’s team would have been delighted to do that for you,’ she presses. ‘They’re far more familiar with our charitable works than Athena would be, having joined us so recently.’

She smiles at Athena, but it doesn’t reach her eyes, and it bothers me. We’re trying to do some good here. I don’t have any tolerance for territorial bullshit—we’ve got enough on our plate without having to manage easily-bruised egos.

‘That’s extremely kind, but briefing me ahead of key meetings is precisely what my EA should be doing. And sometimes it’s good to get a fresh perspective on an old problem, isn’t it? Besides, Athena is my secret weapon in this instance. She spent several years as a management consultantandshe hasan MBA, both of which make her perfectly suited to this kind of research.’

I see my mother’s eyebrows arch in pleased surprise at Athena’s impressive background. She definitely favours a strong pedigree in people as well as horses.

Before I can continue, my sister leans forward and taps her copy of the document. ‘I totally agree. To be honest, I was absolutely dreading this meeting until I flipped through this thing. It was very bloody inspiring. Nice work, Athena. Eleanor—we can continue with your powerpoint if that’s what you’d like, but we should just use this as the starting point for any sensible discussion, if you want my opinion.’

Mairead runs the stud farm within my parents’ stables. It’s an extraordinarily successful business. My sister has not only a strong nose for business but, predictably enough for someone who spends her days focused on equine erections, an even stronger nose for horseshit and time wasters.

Unfortunately for Eleanor, Mairead can tend towards seeing her as guilty of both of those things when their paths cross.

‘Thank you,’ Athena says quietly to my left as Eleanor glares at Mairead and then Athena, her body stiff with betrayal.

‘I must say, I feel quite on the back foot here. Next time you request that I chair a meeting and then see fit to create your own agenda, Gabriel, I wonder if you’d be so kind as to furnish me with a copy ahead of time?’

‘Absolutely, Eleanor.’ I hold my arms wide to show her I mean no harm. ‘And this was certainly not meant to be an alternative agenda—I merely asked Athena to pull together some information to get me up to speed. She went above and beyond, and I was impressed, so I had some copies couriered to the family to give them some background.’

‘Why don’t you go on with your presentation, Eleanor?’ Mum asks, eyes darting between me and Eleanor as if she’s watching a tennis match.

‘Please do. Perhaps you can summarise where our philanthropic works stand at the moment, Eleanor? And then we’ll get down to the business of wiping the slate clean and taking it from there.’

I hope my subtext is clear. If what’s to follow on the screen is nothing more than a rehash by Eleanor and Torty of what their blue-blooded friends over at Grosvenor and Cadogan are doing, we’ll be aborting their powerpoint pretty damn quickly.

Fifteen minutes later, my fears are confirmed. Following a summary from Eleanor that put a more positive spin on the same current numbers that Athena pulled, Torty is now walking us through a proposed foundation structure that, as she puts it, borrows from the supposed best practices of her favourite references.

It’s becoming increasingly clear to me that Torty sees our “stakeholders” as parties with whom we should curry favour: local government; local businesses; high-profile individuals. The diagrams she’s created fail to speak to any of the more disenfranchised members of our society, and the irony is sinking in, slow but deadly: in some misguided attempt at gaining social currency, my father has populated this firm with some fearful snobs who are frankly out of touch and tone deaf.

Around the table, my family members look disengaged at best and bored at worst. I can practically feel the disapprovalradiating off Athena next to me. I’ve got to put an end to this bullshit. I hold my hand up again.

‘Thanks Torty, but I’m going to stop you there.’ I get to my feet again. ‘Look, I think we’re all clear on the fact that what’s worked in Belgravia won’t work in the Docklands, and that we have an advantage in that respect. Dad, you and Grandad grew up piss-poor. And when you came over to the UK, you didn’t ask for permission. You watched, and you listened, and you built. That’s what we should be doing.

‘I’ll be honest, I’ve been flailing a bit since I took the reins here, wondering if I’ll ever find that sense of purpose I struggled to find even as a priest. And you know what? This is the first time I’ve felt that flicker. We’ve got an opportunity to use our wealth and our street smarts on an almost inconceivable scale, so let’s have some fun with it, for God’s sake.

‘This isn’t about handouts. It’s about giving people back their dignity and power and connectivity. I’ve seen the good that one stable community space can provide. Building sustainable change takes time, alongtime, but none of us is going anywhere. Athena proposed three pillars—let me see… Ah, yeah. Here we go. Cultural heritage preservation, which I feel like you’re very strong on, Torty, but that needs to look very different in this area. Urban community development—that’s everything from housing to small business support. And finally, but critically, environmental sustainability, right down to ring-fencing more green space and even urban farming. Here.’ I push my briefing pack in Torty's direction. ‘You and Eleanor should take a look. I’ll share with Athena.’

I sit back down, and we begin to tentatively throw ideas out. My brother’s knee-jerk reaction is to fight for any land that’s been earmarked for development but could be sequestered for green spaces instead. But he’s quickly placated by the potentialto showcase Sullivan’s sustainable building practices and to extend affordable housing initiatives further.

Mairead makes the case for the environmental angle, stressing the importance of getting kids outside and moving their bodies and, ideally, connecting with nature, with animals. She’s all over the idea of urban farming projects while Eleanor, seemingly noting the change in the room’s energy level, takes copious notes.

‘You know, I like this,’ Dad says, throwing his glasses down and rubbing his eyes. ‘It feels more right, I suppose. I’m glad Old Jim’s not here, because he’d try to remind me that this is an exercise in divestment and estate planning, and it’s really not. Not for me and Maeve, anyway. It’s about giving people a bit of fucking human dignity and getting our hands dirty.’ He slaps the table. ‘I think that’s what we’ve been missing, and fuck knows, the Sullivans have never been afraid of getting their hands dirty. You know what I mean?’

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