Chapter 9 - THE COMPLIANCE PLAN
I read the document standing in front of the entire Wexler family.
Week One.
Control transportation.
Week Two.
Combine bank access.
Week Three.
Remove outside financial advisers.
Week Four.
Begin pregnancy discussions.
My hands became colder with every line.
There were notes beside certain items.
“Passport after honeymoon.”
“Encourage resignation from work.”
“Joint account mandatory.”
“Reduce Bennett parental influence.”
Then I reached the final section.
“Financial consolidation after marriage.”
Below it was my inheritance estimate.
They had guessed wrong.
Wildly wrong.
But the fact that they had tried made my skin crawl.
Brenda reached for the paper.
I pulled it away.
“That’s private.”
I stared at her.
“You wrote a schedule for dismantling my life.”
“That is not what it is.”
“What would you call it?”
“Helping you adjust.”
“To what?”
“Marriage.”
Patricia laughed.
It was the first openly hostile sound directed at Brenda.
“My God.”
Brenda spun toward her.
“You should leave.”
“No.”
Patricia’s voice strengthened.
“I spent thirty years leaving rooms whenever you told me to.”
“I’m tired.”
Derek pointed toward the document.
“That proves nothing.”
I looked at him.
“Your mother planned to take my passport.”
“She plans everything.”
“Apparently.”
“This is insane.”
“No, Derek.”
I held up the forged guarantee.
“This is fraud.”
His face tightened.
“Alleged fraud.”
Maya spoke for the first time.
“Excellent correction.”
Everyone looked at her.
“For now.”
Derek’s confidence slipped.
Brenda stepped closer to me.
“You need to think very carefully about what you are doing.”
“I am.”
“If Northstar calls the debt, hundreds of employees could lose their jobs.”
“I know.”
“You want that on your conscience?”
“No.”
Her eyes brightened as though she had found my weakness.
Then I smiled.
“That’s why I’m not calling the operating debt.”
Derek frowned.
“What?”
“I’m separating company operations from family control.”
Thomas placed several documents on the table.
Northstar had the contractual right to impose independent financial oversight after specified default events.
The forged guarantee triggered review.
The missing funds triggered another.
Attempts to destroy records triggered a third.
Derek stared at the documents.
“You can’t take my company.”
“It isn’t yours.”
“My grandfather built it.”
“And you borrowed against it.”
Brenda’s voice sharpened.
“What do you want?”
Finally.
The question they should have asked before throwing the towel.
“I want every employee paid.”
“I want the books preserved.”
“I want every fraudulent document withdrawn.”
“I want my name removed from every Wexler entity.”
“And I want Derek to stay away from me.”
Derek laughed.
“You’re my wife.”
“For fourteen hours.”
“You can’t erase that.”
I looked directly at him.
“No.”
“But I can make sure it never becomes fourteen years.”
He slammed his palm onto the conference table.
Several people jumped.
I didn’t.
Then Patricia quietly spoke.
“Tell her about the basement safe, Brenda.”
The room went still.
Brenda’s face turned white.
Derek stared at his aunt.
“What basement safe?”
May you like
Patricia looked at me.
“The one containing the originals.”
