Chapter 4 - THE SHOWDOWN IN SUITE 400
The board room at Harrison & Croft was ice-cold at eight-fifty-five the next morning.
I sat at the head of the dark mahogany table, wearing an elegant navy-blue suit, my hands folded neatly over a fresh leather portfolio. Arthur Harrison sat to my left. To my right sat two broad-shouldered corporate security officers dressed in dark gray suits.
At nine o'clock sharp, the glass doors clicked open.
Daniel walked in first. He was wearing his best blue suit, trying desperately to project an air of executive confidence, but his pale face and bloodshot eyes gave him away.
Behind him came Paige, looking furious, holding a heavy designer handbag like a weapon.
And behind Paige walked Lorraine.
Lorraine was wearing herSedona wrap coat, her gold scarf tied loosely around her neck, her chin held high as if she were inspecting a hotel lounge that didn't meet her standards.
"Evelyn," Lorraine declared loudly, sweeping into the room before Daniel could even speak. "This whole circus is completely out of hand. I had to cancel my ten o'clock Pilates class because Paige said your lawyers were threatening to impound my Mercedes!"
I didn't answer her. I didn't even look at her.
"Sit down, Daniel," I said calmly, gesturing to the three empty chairs across from me.
"Mom, what is this?" Daniel, demanded his voice shaking as he pulled out a chair. "Why are there security guards here? Why did Marcus Vance freeze the company payroll accounts this morning? My managers couldn't issue supply orders!"
"Sit down, Paige. Sit down, Lorraine," Arthur Harrison said, his voice ringing with absolute, authority. "Or the security officers will escort you to the street level immediately."
Lorraine scoffed, but Paige yanked her mother's sleeve, forcing her to sit down next to Daniel.
Arthur opened a thick white folder and laid three copies of a legal document onto the table, sliding them across to Daniel, Paige, and Lorraine.
"What is this?" Paige snaps, not bothering to pick up the paper.
"That," Arthur said smoothly, "is a formal Notice of Unilateral Corporate Restructuring, accompanied by a Demand for Restitution."
Daniel frowned, looking down at the legal jargon on the top page. "Unilateral restructuring? Mom, you can't restructure the company without my vote as Managing Director."
"I own sixty percent of the voting equity, Daniel," I said, looking at him straight in the eye. "Yesterday afternoon, I held an emergency shareholder meeting with Arthur, who holds your late father's five percent voting trust. Together, we hold sixty-five percent. As of five o'clock yesterday evening, you have been officially removed from the position of Managing Director."
Daniel's face drained of every drop of color. He sat back in his chair as if he had been slapped. "You... you fired me?"
"No," I replied cleanly. "If I fired you, you would apply for unemployment and sit at home while Paige tried to figure out new ways to access my capital. You are now the Associate Site Supervisor for residential lawn maintenance. Your new salary is fifty-five thousand dollars a year."
"Fifty-five thousand dollars?!" Paige shrieked, jumping out of her chair so violently her purse slid onto the carpet. "Are you out of your mind, Evelyn?! Our mortgage alone is six thousand dollars a month! Our kids go to private school! We have car payments! We have memberships!"
"You had car payments," Arthur corrected her calmly, sliding a second document toward Paige. "The luxury vehicle leases for the Mercedes-Benz, the Porsche Macan, and the Range Rovers have been terminated for unauthorized corporate expenditure. The tow trucks are currently parked outside your driveway in Upper Arlington. If the vehicles are not surrendered by noon, they will be reported as stolen corporate property."
Lorraine stood up, her face turning a deep, angry purple. "You miserable old hag! You can't touch my Mercedes! Daniel gave that car to me for my sixty-fifth birthday!"
"Daniel didn't give you anything, Lorraine," I said, my voice ice-cold. "I gave you that car. Through my company, my capital, and my sweat. And as of eight o'clock this morning, you have been formally removed from the payroll of Bennett Landscaping."
"I will sue you!" Lorraine screamed, shaking her manicured finger at me across the table. "I have a contract! I am a Senior Aesthetic Consultant!"
"You are an acccomplice to corporate embezzlement, Mrs. Vance," Arthur interjected, leaning forward over his papers. "If you take one step toward a trial, I will personally hand the forensic audit of your Sedonian 'wellness club' transfers to the Internal Revenue Service's criminal investigation division. You have thirty seconds to sit down and close your mouth before I make that call right now."
Lorraine froze. Her hand trembled in mid-air. She looked at Arthur's icy, unblinking eyes, then looked at me. She slowly sank back into her chair, her lips pressed into a thin, white line.
Daniel sat staring at the table, his breath coming in short, ragged gasps.
"Mom..." Daniel whispered, his voice completely cracked. "Please... don't do this to me. I'm your son."
"You are my son, Daniel," I said softly, leaning across the table so he could see the absolute clarity in my eyes. "And because you are my son, I am saving you from going to federal prison. You are going to sign the restitution agreement. You are going to surrender the fraudulent two-million-dollar line of credit back to the estate. And you are going to go to work on Monday morning in a green company uniform, hold a weed-trimmer, and earn your paycheck like every single worker your father ever hired."
"And if I refuse?" Daniel choked out, tears spilling over his lower eyelids.
May you like
"If you refuse," I said, standing up and pulling my leather gloves onto my hands, "Arthur will file the criminal fraud charges with the county prosecutor by twelve o'clock today. The choice is entirely yours, Daniel."
I turned my back on them, adjusted my coat, and walked cleanly out of the board room, leaving the sound of Paige's hysterical weeping echoing behind me against the thick glass walls.
