Chapter 5 - The Man Inside My Company
I called Carter Meridian's security director from Ethan's study.
"Lock Martin Sloane out of every system. Quietly."
There was a pause.
"Margaret, on what basis?"
"My basis. Do it."
I had hired Martin fourteen years earlier. He had sat beside me through two mergers, a federal audit, and my husband's funeral.
Trust makes betrayal expensive in ways money never measures.
Ethan drove Daniel home with one of our private security officers. Vanessa complained that the engagement party was being "destroyed over drama."
I did not answer her.
Instead, I changed clothes in an upstairs guest room and walked downstairs wearing a simple navy suit from the emergency wardrobe I kept in my car.
The laughter stopped again.
Not because I looked rich.
Because Ethan walked beside me and introduced me.
"Everyone, this is my mother, Margaret Carter. Founder and chair of Carter Meridian Capital."
A few guests recognized the name immediately.
George Mitchell did not move.
Patricia's champagne glass lowered very slowly.
Vanessa stared at me as though I had changed species.
I addressed the room.
"The celebration is over. Thank you for coming."
George stepped forward.
"You can't throw people out of my property."
I looked at Ethan.
He almost smiled.
The Belle Meade estate belonged to a Carter Meridian hospitality subsidiary. George had rented it for the weekend.
"Actually," I said, "I can end an event on property my company owns when guests are being mistreated."
The color left George's face.
Then my phone rang.
Carter Meridian security.
Martin's account had been locked.
Too late.
Six minutes earlier, he had downloaded the full Mitchell loan file, three internal valuation reports, and a confidential list of our outside investigators.
May you like
Then he sent everything to an external address.
The address belonged to Patricia Mitchell.
