The board meeting was meant to welcome you, not interfere with your marriage.”
Richard gave a bitter laugh.
“So this whole thing was a test.”
“No,” my father said.
“I attended my son’s wedding.
You created the test yourself.”
Lorraine suddenly reached for my father’s arm.
“Elias, please.
We made a mistake.”
He looked down at her hand until she released him.
“My name mattered only after the vehicles arrived,” he said.
“Before that, you decided I was beneath you.”
Vanessa came toward me slowly.
“Daniel, I was nervous.
Mom had been drinking.
Everyone was laughing.
I didn’t know what to do.”
“You told me not to embarrass him,” I said.
She began to cry.
“I was trying to keep the wedding from falling apart.”
“The wedding fell apart when you chose the crowd over the man who raised me.”
“I love you.”
I believed she loved the life she thought we would have.
Maybe part of her had loved me too.
That made the moment sadder, not easier.
“Love does not wait for a convoy before showing respect,” I said.
Richard slammed his palm against a table.
“Enough of this sentimental nonsense.
You have a fiduciary responsibility now, Daniel.
Rejecting the rescue will cost people their jobs.”
It was his final attempt to reclaim power: wrap his own survival in the livelihoods of his workers.
My father glanced at me, but he did not tell me what to do.
Arthur explained the choices.
Mercer could reject the deal and allow Halstead Development to enter bankruptcy.
Or it could approve a revised acquisition that protected employees and creditors while removing Richard from control.
The original proposal had required Richard’s cooperation.
The evidence of financial misconduct gave Mercer grounds to negotiate directly with the secured lenders instead.
Richard’s company could survive.
Richard’s authority would not.
Every face turned toward me.
Only an hour earlier, most of those people had watched my father lower his eyes while Lorraine mocked him.
Now they waited for his supposedly worthless son to decide the fate of the Halstead empire.
I did not feel powerful.
I felt responsible.
“Pay the workers first,” I said.
“Complete every safe project.
Protect the buyers who put their savings into those homes.”
Richard’s shoulders loosened slightly.
Then I continued.
“Remove Richard from management.
Conduct a full independent audit.
Refer anything unlawful to the proper authorities.”
Richard surged toward me, but hotel security stepped between us.
“You vindictive little—”
“Careful,” Paul said from the stage.
“There are five hundred witnesses.”
