Chapter 4 - The True Heir
"You think you can audit me?" Grant laughed, pacing the room in a manic display of manufactured confidence. "You think because Bennett Capital refinanced a few of our commercial properties last year, you suddenly own the company? My name is on the door, Evelyn! I am the CEO!"
Naomi didn't speak. She simply reached into her leather briefcase and pulled out a single, sleek black folder. She slid it across the table, stopping it exactly in front of Arthur.
"Your son," I said softly, looking at Arthur, "is remarkably bad at reading the fine print."
Arthur opened the folder. As his eyes scanned the heavily redacted legal documents, his breathing hitched. The blood completely left his face, leaving him looking like a corpse. He looked up at Grant, then at me, pure terror flashing in his eyes.
"Dad? What is it?" Grant demanded, marching over and snatching the folder from his father’s hands.
Grant read the first page. Then the second. His hands began to tremble so violently the papers rattled.
For the last three years, Grant’s company had been hemorrhaging money due to his reckless expansion projects. To save himself from bankruptcy and public humiliation, he had secured a massive, multi-million-dollar bailout from Bennett Capital. He thought he was dealing with a faceless board of directors in Delaware. He thought he had outsmarted the system by using his company's voting shares as collateral.
What Grant had never bothered to investigate was the ownership structure of Bennett Capital.
"As you can see," Naomi stated, her voice slicing through the deadly silence of the penthouse. "Bennett Capital is a subsidiary holding company. It is one hundred percent owned and operated by the Evelyn Bennett-Mercer Irrevocable Trust. My client didn't just refinance your debt, Grant. She bought your debt. And because you violated the morality and criminal fraud clauses hidden in section 4B of your loan agreement by embezzling corporate funds..."
"I am officially executing the collateral clause," I finished, stepping into the light. "I am calling the debt due immediately. You don't have the liquidity to pay it, which means your sixty percent voting shares now legally belong to me."
Grant’s knees actually buckled. He grabbed the edge of the dining table to keep from collapsing.
"You... you own the company?" Grant whispered, his voice cracking, the reality of his total annihilation finally crashing down on him.
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"I am the majority shareholder," I corrected him. "And as my first act of business, I am terminating your employment as CEO, effective immediately. You are broke, Grant. You are unemployed. And you are officially locked out of the building."
Arthur didn't try to defend his son. The older man looked at Grant with a mixture of absolute disgust and profound betrayal. "You arrogant fool," Arthur hissed, turning his back on Grant. "You threw away an empire for a cheap affair."
