Chapter 2 - THE BLACK FOLDER
I looked toward my father's old desk.
The folder was in the bottom drawer, exactly where Miriam had told me to keep it.
Daniel hit the door again.
“Open up. We need to fix this before it gets out of hand.”
I switched on the porch camera's speaker.
“You mean before your engagement gets out of hand?”
He looked straight into the lens.
“The announcement was premature.”
“So was the kiss?”
“Vanessa's investors needed a show of confidence.”
I almost laughed.
“You used our anniversary for a business presentation?”
“Just let me explain.”
Behind him, Miriam's gray sedan pulled into the driveway.
Daniel stepped into her path.
“She's upset. Don't encourage something she'll regret.”
Miriam didn't slow down.
“Move.”
I let her in through the side door and locked it behind her.
Her first question wasn't about the money.
“Has he threatened you?”
“Only my intelligence.”
She squeezed my shoulder, then took the black folder to the kitchen table.
Inside were the agreement, my inheritance records, and the limited voting proxy I had granted Daniel after my father's death.
I remembered signing it at this same table.
Daniel had made tea.
I had been crying too hard to read without stopping.
“This doesn't turn your shares into cash,” Miriam said.
“It ends his authority to use your votes. We withdraw any outstanding consent within the agreement's terms, notify the board, and preserve the records.”
“I don't want employees missing paychecks.”
“Then we protect operations while we remove his access.”
I signed the notices.
Miriam sent them from her laptop.
Outside, Daniel's phone rang.
He answered, listened, and stopped knocking.
For a moment, I thought he had finally understood.
Then he called me.
I answered on speaker.
“You have no idea what you've done,” he said.
“Tell me.”
“A transaction is closing Monday. Your father would never have let you damage this company over hurt feelings.”
“My father would have asked what transaction.”
Silence.
Miriam held out her hand for the phone.
“Send the documents, Daniel.”
He hung up.
She opened the board portal with my ownership credentials.
A pending resolution appeared under my name.
APPROVAL OF SECURITY INTEREST IN CONTROLLING SHARES.
At the bottom was my signature.
May you like
Dated three days earlier.
I had never seen the document in my life.
