Chapter 17 - The Boardroom
The Mercer Construction board meeting began at nine the next morning.
I did not attend as a bride, fiancée, or member of the family.
I attended with counsel as a lender witness, creditor, and possible victim of document fraud.
Patricia sat at the far end of the table in navy silk.
Daniel sat beside her.
Neither looked at me.
Outside counsel opened the meeting.
The lender had frozen the refinancing. The bonding company had requested an independent review. Employee benefit administrators were reconciling deposits. No one used the word fraud yet.
They did not need to.
Patricia spoke first.
“Elena is angry because my son ended a volatile relationship.”
I almost admired the nerve.
Maya placed the video from the ballroom on the screen.
Daniel’s first slap.
Then the second.
Then me calling security.
The room went silent.
“That relationship ended itself,” Maya said.
Next came the forged guaranty.
Then the false notarization.
Then the Blue Alder invoices.
Then Grace’s ledger.
Daniel finally spoke.
“My mother controlled vendor approval.”
Patricia turned on him.
“Do not.”
It was the first crack I had ever seen between them.
Daniel looked at me.
“I did not create the shell companies.”
“No,” I said. “You just used them.”
He flinched.
Outside counsel played Grace’s recording.
If Elena marries me, the bank problem disappears.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Patricia did not.
When the recording ended, Howard placed the old reserve statements on the table.
“I founded this company,” he said. “And I allowed silence to become loyalty. That was my failure.”
Patricia stood.
“You are not mentally competent to make that accusation.”
Howard looked at her.
“Then why did you forge the doctor’s name on my removal papers?”
For the first time, Patricia had no answer.
May you like
Then the conference room door opened.
Lydia Kane walked in.
