Chương 8
Greg ignored her.
He kept looking at Daniel.
“They copied me because I’m still personally liable on the old business guarantee.”
Mia stepped forward.
“What email?”
Daniel said nothing.
Greg reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.
“The lender wants updated financials because Collins Learning missed a covenant.”
Mia stared at him.
“I didn’t miss anything.”
“Yes, you did.”
“No.”
“They attached the notice.”
“That’s impossible.”
Greg unlocked his phone.
“You want to see it?”
Mia reached for it.
Daniel moved.
Not toward her.
Toward the phone.
The reaction was instinctive and unmistakable.
Greg pulled it back.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“That.”
Greg looked at me.
“The face he makes when the paperwork starts talking.”
Daniel’s voice went flat.
“You don’t understand the transaction.”
“I understand my name is still sitting on a guarantee for a company I signed away in the divorce.”
Mia was scrolling through Greg’s phone now.
Her face went white.
“This says we failed to maintain the reserve balance.”
“Yes.”
“We have reserves.”
“Do you?”
She looked at Daniel.
He said nothing.
“Daniel.”
“I didn’t manage the operating account.”
“You had access.”
“For reporting.”
“You had access.”
“So did you.”
“I haven’t touched the reserve account.”
Greg gave a short, disbelieving laugh.
“Jesus Christ.”
Mia turned on him.
“What?”
“You really gave him access?”
“He was an investor.”
“He was your investor, your emergency contact, your babysitter, your handyman, what else?”
“Stop.”
“I’m asking because apparently I missed a merger.”
Daniel took a step toward Greg.
“Careful.”
Greg stared at him.
“Or what?”
“Both of you stop,” I said.
They did.
The fact that they listened to me annoyed me almost as much as the argument.
Noah had stopped drinking.
I checked the bottle.
Just over two ounces.
It felt like winning something tiny and sacred.
I set it down.
“If the company missed a reserve requirement, what does that have to do with Daniel?”
Greg looked at me.
“Maybe nothing.”
Daniel said, “Exactly.”
Greg continued.
“Except the reserve account was funded with the money he put in.”
Mia looked from him to Daniel.
“No.”
Greg lifted his eyebrows.
“No?”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“That money went toward payroll and curriculum development.”
“According to who?”
“My books.”
“Have you looked at the bank balance yourself?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
Mia opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Greg laughed softly.
“Right.”
She turned on him.
“Don’t act smug.”
“I’m not smug.”
“You love when I screw up.”
“I hate when you screw up because I still get invoices.”
Daniel interrupted.
“The reserve issue is administrative.”
Greg looked at him.
“Then why did the bank freeze additional draws?”
Mia went still.
“What?”
Daniel stared at Greg.
The silence lengthened.
“What draws?” I asked.
No one answered.
I felt tired all the way into my teeth.
I looked at Daniel.
“What draws?”
His mouth tightened.
“The credit facility has a revolving component.”
“Mia’s company has another line of credit?”
“Yes.”
Greg said, “Guaranteed by the company, Mia, and apparently still me because nobody filed the release correctly.”
Mia stared at Daniel.
“You told me Greg was released.”
“I was told he would be.”
“By who?”
“The bank.”
“Which person?”
Daniel hesitated.
Greg gave a little nod.
“Good question.”
Mia’s voice sharpened.
“Which person, Daniel?”
“I’d have to check.”
“You know every banker by first name when you want something.”
“This was handled through documentation.”
“So you don’t know.”
“I didn’t say that.”
Greg looked at me.
“He does this for a living.”
“What?”
“Commercial finance.”
I knew that.
Daniel was a vice president at a regional investment firm, specializing in middle-market lending.
I had simply never heard Greg say it like an accusation.
“He knows what guarantees are,” Greg continued.
“He knows what covenant notices mean.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“Be very careful about what you’re implying.”
“I’m not implying anything.”
Greg tapped the phone.
“I’m reading.”
Mia looked at me.
Something almost apologetic crossed her face before she turned back to Daniel.
“Did you know the company was in default?”
“No.”
“Did you suspect it?”
“I knew cash flow was tight.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I was trying to give you room.”
“Room for what?”
“To fix it.”
Her laugh cracked.
“You gave me money I didn’t ask my ex-husband for, tied yourself to my company, hid conversion rights, and then watched me violate a bank covenant so I could fix it?”
“That is not what happened.”
“Then explain what happened.”
Daniel looked toward the hallway.
The nurse passing outside glanced in and kept walking.
He lowered his voice.
“If the company stays in default, the note gives me stronger rights.”
Mia’s face emptied.
Greg stopped moving.
I felt the meaning arrive before anyone said it aloud.
“You benefit if she defaults,” I said.
Daniel looked at me.
“Not the way you’re making it sound.”
“How should it sound?”
“It protects my capital.”
“Our capital.”
His eyes flicked down.
I stood carefully, still holding Noah.
“No.”
“Claire.”
“You keep calling it yours.”
“I misspoke.”
“No, you keep telling the truth accidentally.”
Mia sank into the chair beside the wall.
Greg took his phone back from her.
For the first time since he entered, he looked less angry than tired.
“When did you find out?” he asked me.
“About the money?”
“Yes.”
“Two weeks ago.”
He nodded slowly.
“That explains the records request.”
Daniel’s head turned sharply.
“What records request?”
Greg looked at him.
Now it was his turn to hesitate.
I felt something new tighten in the room.
“What records request?” Daniel repeated.
Greg looked at me.
“Your attorney didn’t tell you?”
My pulse jumped.
“Tell me what?”
He glanced at Daniel once before answering.
“Someone from Mercer, Vale & Rosen requested copies of the old Collins Learning financing documents three days ago.”
Daniel stared at me.
I stared back.
Rachel had told me she was tracing the transfers.
May you like
She had not told me she had already reached beyond our marriage.
Greg slipped his phone into his pocket.
