Chương 6
Her attorney, Melissa Green, stood by the sink reading her phone.
“You look bad,” Melissa said.
“Thank you.”
“The clip looks bad.”
“Better.”
Melissa had represented Claire’s father before representing Claire. She was fifty-eight, wore inexpensive reading glasses on a chain, and had no known ability to pretend an unpleasant thing was pleasant.
“Do you know who recorded it?”
“One of the guests.”
“Which?”
“I don’t know.”
“Daniel?”
“No.”
“Margaret?”
“Not unless she grew a third hand.”
Melissa glanced over her glasses.
“Humor. Good sign.”
“It’s either that or start drinking at four-thirty.”
“It’s four-forty-six.”
Claire checked the oven clock.
“Oh.”
Melissa put the phone down.
“Do not respond publicly.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Do not post the bruise.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Do not let Daniel post anything without showing me.”
Claire looked at her.
“He asked if we should make a joint statement.”
“And?”
“I asked which joint he meant.”
Melissa took off her glasses.
“How bad is the marriage?”
Claire shook cereal into her mouth.
Melissa waited.
“Bad enough that I’m eating bran flakes for dinner.”
“You hate bran flakes.”
“They were open.”
“That is concerning.”
Claire smiled despite herself.
Then her phone rang.
Daniel.
She let it ring twice.
Melissa nodded toward it.
“You should probably answer.”
Claire did.
“Hi.”
Daniel sounded exhausted.
“Have you seen it?”
“Yes.”
“My mother says she didn’t leak it.”
“Do you believe her?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire poured more cereal into her palm.
“What do you want me to do?”
“I want us to release a statement together.”
“We’re not together right now.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I do.”
Daniel paused.
“Mom’s getting destroyed too.”
Claire laughed.
“Daniel.”
“No, listen. People are saying she attacked you. They’re calling her an abuser.”
“She attacked me.”
“I know.”
“She kicked my chair backward while I was sitting in it.”
“I know.”
“She grabbed my wrist.”
“I know.”
“Then what part of ‘abuser’ is confusing you?”
“I’m not defending what she did.”
“You started the sentence by telling me what people were doing to her.”
“I’m telling you the situation is getting out of control.”
“It was out of control before someone posted it.”
Silence.
Claire looked at Melissa.
Melissa was pretending to study the cereal box.
Daniel said, “There’s more.”
Claire waited.
“The family board meets Friday.”
“So?”
“Mom wants to remove me.”
“From what?”
“Everything.”
That surprised her.
Daniel had been president of Whitmore Capital for six years. Margaret remained chair, but Daniel ran daily operations. His removal would not destroy him financially. It would change the architecture of his entire adult life.
“Why?”
“She says I concealed material personal financial information.”
Claire stopped eating.
“The yacht.”
“Yes.”
“And the loan?”
“Yes.”
Claire looked at Melissa.
She mouthed, Later.
Daniel continued. “She’s also claiming you used financial leverage over me.”
Claire laughed once.
“She means I loaned your company money.”
“She’s framing it differently.”
“Of course she is.”
“I need to correct the record.”
“Yes.”
“I need you there.”
“No.”
“Claire.”
“No.”
“They’re going to discuss your finances whether you’re there or not.”
“They shouldn’t.”
“They will.”
“That sounds like a Whitmore problem.”
“It affects Sophie.”
There it was.
Claire went still.
Daniel heard it too.
“I shouldn’t have said that.”
“No.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“You did.”
“I meant if I’m removed, there will be changes.”
“To what?”
“My compensation. Trust distributions could be restricted.”
“You have several million dollars in your own accounts.”
“I know.”
“So Sophie will survive.”
“That isn’t what I meant.”
“Then don’t use her.”
“I’m sorry.”
Claire put the cereal down.
Melissa watched her.
Daniel’s voice softened.
“I need you to hear me say this before Friday.”
“Okay.”
“I lied to my mother.”
Claire said nothing.
“I let her think I owned the yacht. I let the board think it was part of my household assets. I let people assume your loan came from money connected to me. None of that was fair to you.”
Claire sat down.
Daniel continued.
“I did it because I was embarrassed.”
She closed her eyes.
There it was.
Not trapped between two women.
Not protecting family harmony.
Not complicated structure.
Embarrassed.
“I had run the company into a cash problem,” he said. “You fixed it. Then you bought the yacht after I couldn’t close without breaching the liquidity covenant on the family credit line, and I—”
“What?”
Silence.
Claire opened her eyes.
Melissa was looking directly at her now.
“What did you just say?”
Daniel did not answer.
“Daniel.”
“The deposit.”
“What about the deposit?”
“The first deposit came from me.”
“I know.”
“I couldn’t fund the closing.”
“I know.”
“What you don’t know is why.”
Claire felt the room narrow.
“You told me the board wanted liquidity preserved.”
“They did.”
“Why?”
“Because I had already committed funds somewhere else.”
“Where?”
Daniel breathed into the phone.
“A hotel project in Miami.”
Claire stared at the kitchen counter.
“What hotel project?”
“Northshore.”
Claire knew the name.
Everyone in their circle knew Northshore. It was a redevelopment that had stalled after cost overruns and a partner dispute.
Daniel had always described it as a passive family investment.
“How much?”
“Eight million personally.”
Claire said nothing.
“I thought it would close before the yacht delivery. It didn’t.”
“You asked me to buy the yacht because you said tying up family capital would create a governance problem.”
“It did.”
“Because you had already tied up your personal liquidity in a deal you didn’t tell me about.”
“Yes.”
Melissa sat down opposite Claire.
Claire’s hands had started to shake.
“Was the eight million yours?”
“Mostly.”
“Mostly?”
“Two came from a line against my trust distribution.”
“Did you sign a personal guarantee?”
“No.”
Claire heard hesitation.
“Daniel.”
“A limited guarantee.”
“How limited?”
“Claire—”
“How limited?”
“Three million.”
She hung up.
Melissa waited.
Claire put both palms flat on the counter.
“Tell me what you need,” Melissa said.
“I need five minutes where nobody in that family has access to language.”
May you like
Melissa nodded.
They sat in silence.
