Chapter 10 - CEDAR HOUSE
Cedar House Capital had spent eighteen months quietly buying loans tied to Blackwell Domestic Services, Blackwell Hospitality, and two of our property companies.
If those businesses breached their covenants, Cedar House could demand payment.
If we could not pay, it could seize equity.
'Who owns it?' I asked.
Grace turned her screen.
Three shell companies.
Then a trust.
Then another trust.
At the bottom were two names.
Natalie Sloan.
Owen Mercer.
The wage theft was not only theft.
It was financing a takeover.
They were using money taken from employees to buy the debt of the company that employed them.
June stared at the diagram.
'So they took our money to buy your company?'
'Part of it.'
She shook her head.
'That's sick.'
It was.
Claire froze Cedar House assets before sunrise.
Natalie's lawyers filed an emergency challenge.
Owen disappeared.
His phone was found in a parking garage downtown.
His passport remained unused.
Then my board called a special meeting.
They were not angry about stolen wages.
They were angry that I had frozen accounts and invited investigators into the company.
One director said, 'You are creating a liquidity crisis over a subsidiary issue.'
I looked at him.
'A woman in my house had not eaten in a day.'
'Emotion is not governance.'
'Neither is theft.'
The board moved to restrict my authority until the investigation ended.
Malcolm controlled several family proxies.
Natalie controlled lender votes through Cedar House.
For the first time since I became CEO, I could lose the company.
June found me alone afterward.
'Are you scared?'
'Yes.'
She seemed surprised I admitted it.
'What happens if they remove you?'
'I keep talking.'
'And if the company falls?'
I looked at her.
'Then it falls telling the truth.'
My phone rang.
Lila's school in Peoria.
June answered.
Her face drained.
'What happened?'
May you like
She listened for ten seconds.
Then whispered, 'Micah is missing.'
