Chapter 3 - THE EMPIRE HE THOUGHT WAS HIS
At 12:18 a.m., Diane placed three folders on the table inside my father’s private office.
Red.
Blue.
Black.
“Pick one,” she said.
I stared at her.
“What?”
“The red folder is your marriage.”
She touched the blue one.
“The blue folder is the business.”
Then the black.
“And this is criminal exposure.”
I sat down slowly.
My father stood by the window.
At sixty-eight, Robert Vale still had the posture of a man who expected boardrooms to listen when he walked into them.
Tonight, he looked older.
“What did Julian do?”
Diane opened the blue folder.
“Mercer Hospitality Management operates fourteen Vale-owned properties.”
“I know.”
“What Julian doesn’t seem to understand is that operating rights can be terminated.”
“He understands contracts.”
“Apparently not his own.”
She slid a document toward me.
Emergency Management Revocation Clause.
I remembered negotiating it.
Eight years earlier.
Julian had complained that my father didn’t trust him.
I told Julian it was standard.
He kissed my forehead and said, “Someday your dad will realize I’m family.”
I almost laughed at the memory.
“Can we remove him tonight?”
Diane nodded.
“Your shares plus the family trust’s voting rights give us seventy-one percent.”
“And the board?”
“Already being contacted.”
My father turned around.
“You still control your shares, Elena.”
“I thought Julian and I had equal voting authority.”
“You gave him proxy authority.”
Diane tapped the paper.
“Proxy is not ownership.”
My phone buzzed.
Another message.
This time from Vanessa.
Julian says you’re upset. Please don’t embarrass yourself any further.
I read it twice.
Then handed my phone to Diane.
She lifted one eyebrow.
“Is she always this stupid?”
“I just found out she exists.”
My father walked over.
“Do not respond.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“Good.”
I stood.
“What happens now?”
“At 1:00 a.m., emergency board meeting.”
“At two?”
“We suspend Julian.”
“At three?”
“Access control.”
“At four?”
“Financial institutions receive updated authority.”
“At five?”
Diane looked at me.
“Security gets a new list.”
“And at six?”
My father answered.
“Julian wakes up.”
For the first time that night, I smiled.
It didn’t last.
Diane opened the black folder.
“Before we move forward, you need to see this.”
She handed me a photograph.
Julian.
Vanessa.
And a man I recognized from television.
Victor Shaw.
Private equity billionaire.
Corporate raider.
A man who specialized in buying distressed hotel groups, breaking them apart, and selling the assets.
I frowned.
“Why is Julian meeting Victor Shaw?”
Diane gave me another photograph.
Then another.
Dates.
Restaurants.
Private airport.
Golf club.
All within the last six months.
“He’s been trying to raise capital,” I said.
“No,” my father replied.
“He’s been trying to arrange financing against assets he doesn’t own.”
My stomach tightened.
“That’s impossible.”
“He knows that now.”
“What does that mean?”
Diane leaned forward.
“It means he needed ownership documents.”
“And?”
“He couldn’t get them.”
I understood before she said it.
The forged signature.
“Oh, my God.”
My father nodded.
“We believe Julian created fraudulent documents showing Mercer Hospitality as beneficial owner of three Vale properties.”
I sat back down.
“He tried to mortgage our land?”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
Diane looked at my father.
Then at me.
“That’s what we’re trying to determine.”
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
Diane shook her head.
“Don’t.”
I answered anyway.
“Elena Mercer?”
“Yes.”
A frightened woman whispered on the other end.
“My name is Claire. I work in Julian’s executive office.”
I sat straighter.
“What happened?”
“I think he knows.”
“Knows what?”
“That you called your father.”
Behind her, I heard shouting.
Then Julian’s voice.
“WHERE IS SHE?”
Claire inhaled sharply.
“He’s tearing through the office.”
“What is he looking for?”
“I don’t know.”
A crash.
Claire whispered, “Wait.”
Then she gasped.
“Oh, God.”
“What?”
“He just opened the safe.”
My father grabbed another phone.
I stood.
“Claire, what’s inside?”
Her voice dropped to almost nothing.
“Passports.”
“Whose?”
“His.”
A pause.
“And Vanessa’s.”
My blood turned cold.
May you like
Claire whispered one last sentence.
“They have plane tickets for 5:30 this morning.”
