Chapter 6 - Monday Morning
“You’re going to bankrupt us?”
Caroline’s voice cracked across the room.
I looked at her.
“No.”
“Then release the money!”
“Your father agreed to the closing terms months ago.”
“You said you’re delaying it.”
“An option written into the agreement.”
“Because I made a joke?”
“No.”
I walked closer.
“Because fifteen minutes ago your father grabbed me, tried to hide documents from his own family, and I discovered he still intends to pressure my son into rescuing his company.”
Preston shouted, “Nobody is pressuring anybody!”
Ethan held up the investment draft.
“Then what is this?”
“A proposal.”
“A million-and-a-half-dollar proposal you never showed me!”
Caroline turned toward him.
“We were going to talk on the honeymoon.”
He stared at her.
“On the honeymoon?”
“Ethan—”
“You were going to ask me for one-point-five million dollars while we were on our honeymoon?”
She exhaled hard.
“Our future affects my family too.”
“My money is not your father’s future.”
The words landed harder than anything I had said.
Caroline’s expression changed.
“So that’s how it is?”
“How what is?”
“You’re already choosing her.”
She pointed at me.
I almost felt sorry for her.
Almost.
Ethan looked at Caroline like he had never truly seen her before.
“No.”
His voice was quiet.
“I’m choosing to ask why my wife knew more about my bank account than I knew about her father’s debt.”
Caroline went silent.
Across the room, Preston was speaking urgently with a man in a gray suit.
Marlene leaned toward me.
“That’s Daniel Cross.”
“His CFO?”
She nodded.
“They’re panicking.”
I looked over.
Daniel said something.
Preston cursed.
Then Daniel showed him his phone.
Preston’s shoulders dropped.
“What happened?” I asked.
Marlene checked her own phone.
Her eyes narrowed.
“That’s interesting.”
“What?”
“One of Whitmore’s lenders sent a notice forty minutes ago.”
Preston suddenly shouted at Daniel.
“You said they agreed!”
Daniel lowered his voice.
I couldn’t hear the reply.
I didn’t need to.
Something had gone wrong before I ever stood from my chair.
Marlene showed me her screen.
Whitmore Family Holdings had violated a liquidity requirement.
Their bank was freezing an unused credit line.
Effective immediately.
Preston saw us looking.
“Give me that.”
“No,” Marlene said.
He stepped toward her.
Two venue security officers quietly moved closer.
Preston stopped.
Diane walked up beside her husband.
“Tell me everything.”
“Diane, not here.”
She slapped him.
The sound cracked through the room.
Several people gasped.
Diane’s eyes were wet.
“For thirty-two years, I have let you tell me ‘not here.’”
Preston touched his cheek.
She continued.
“Our home?”
He said nothing.
“The house in St. Helena?”
Silence.
“My mother’s cottage?”
“Diane—”
“You mortgaged my mother’s cottage?”
Caroline whispered, “Dad.”
Then Daniel Cross said the sentence nobody expected.
“It’s worse.”
Everyone looked at him.
Preston’s face changed instantly.
“Daniel.”
But the CFO had already had enough.
He looked straight at Diane.
“The family trust is collateral too.”
Ethan frowned.
“What family trust?”
May you like
Caroline slowly sat down.
And for the first time, she looked truly afraid.
