Chapter 9 - THE OFFER
“Absolutely not,” Claire said.
Ethan kept reading.
The proposal was polished.
Temporary voting arrangement.
Continuity of leadership.
Protection of employees.
Every sentence had been designed to make surrender sound responsible.
Lydia arrived before noon.
She read it once.
“They’ve given us their deadline.”
“Can we stop it?” Ethan asked.
“We can challenge the debt and seek emergency relief. We need records that connect the lender to the people who moved the money.”
Grace tapped the ownership documents.
“We have Vanessa.”
“We have an interest in a related company,” Lydia said. “Now we need the transactions and the instructions.”
Ethan looked at the seventy-two-hour demand.
For months, he had reacted.
To pain.
To Vanessa’s moods.
To Reed’s explanations.
He was done letting other people choose the next move.
“Tell them I’ll discuss it.”
Claire turned.
“Ethan.”
“Discuss it,” he repeated. “Not sign it.”
Lydia watched him carefully.
“What do you want?”
“A meeting. Everyone who can approve the deal.”
“Vanessa and Nolan?”
“And whoever is behind Graybridge.”
Lydia nodded slowly.
“We’ll make the request through counsel. We’ll ask for the supporting loan records in advance.”
Vanessa called thirty minutes later.
He answered on speaker with Lydia beside him.
“You finally understand,” she said.
“I understand the company has employees who didn’t choose this.”
“Then stop making it personal.”
“You emptied accounts under my authority.”
“I kept things running while you sat in the hospital.”
“You’ll bring the records.”
A pause.
Then her voice softened.
“You don’t have to do this alone. We could still fix things.”
Ethan looked at Claire.
His sister’s face had gone hard.
“We’ll meet tomorrow,” he said.
Vanessa named a private conference suite at the Bellamy.
The same hotel.
Of course.
She wanted familiar ground.
After the call, Grace opened the draft agreement again.
“Look at the transfer clause.”
Ethan leaned closer.
Control would pass to Vanessa initially.
Then to a holding company after thirty days.
The name was Hawthorne Operating Group.
Lydia went very still.
“What?” Ethan asked.
She turned her laptop around.
Hawthorne was controlled by Julian Voss.
Ethan’s biggest competitor.
May you like
The man who had tried to buy Mercer Logistics twice.
And the last person Ethan’s father had met before he died.
