Chương 12
“Ms. Ellison,” he called.
Ruth stepped into the corridor.
“Victor.”
He smiled.
“I hear we are having a governance emergency.”
Aaron moved past me.
Miriam caught his arm.
“No.”
He pulled free.
“I’m not hiding in a conference room.”
“Then keep your mouth shut.”
“That has not been the theme of my morning.”
Despite everything, Ruth glanced back at him.
There was almost humor in her eyes.
Almost.
Victor noticed Jasmine standing behind us.
His expression changed.
Only slightly.
“Sweetheart.”
Jasmine did not move.
“Dad.”
“You should go home.”
Marcus’s voice came from the larger conference room speaker.
“Ms. Mercer should remain available to company counsel.”
Victor looked toward the screen.
“Marcus.”
“Victor.”
“You sound tired.”
“I am.”
“Then perhaps we can avoid unnecessary theater.”
Ruth crossed her arms.
“This stopped being theater when you claimed rights against Prescott voting control.”
Victor sighed.
“I claimed rights under executed documents.”
Miriam stepped forward.
“Documents containing collateral the grantor may not have had authority to pledge.”
Victor looked at her.
“And you are?”
“Miriam Shaw.”
Recognition appeared immediately.
“Ah.”
I disliked the sound of that single syllable.
Victor’s gaze shifted to me.
“So you must be Alyssa.”
“We’ve met.”
He frowned briefly.
Then smiled.
“Malibu.”
“At my house.”
“Right.”
That forgotten detail somehow felt insulting.
He had sat on my terrace, drunk my wine, discussed football with my husband, and assessed me as a weakness worth pricing into a financing structure.
“You have had an interesting morning,” he said.
“So have you, apparently.”
His smile widened.
“I suppose Aaron finally told you.”
“Told me what?”
Victor looked at Aaron.
Aaron’s face darkened.
“Do not play games.”
“I’m not.”
“You filed collateral rights you knew I could not grant.”
Victor tilted his head.
“You signed the package.”
“I signed revenue security.”
“You signed what was presented.”
“That is not the same.”
Victor gave him an almost paternal look.
“In sophisticated finance, it rather is.”
Jasmine spoke from behind us.
“You told me the voting schedule was only protective.”
Victor looked at her.
“It is.”
“You said Aaron knew.”
“He did.”
Aaron stepped forward.
“I did not.”
Victor’s eyes moved to him.
“You were sent the full package.”
“By email?”
“Among other methods.”
“What other methods?”
Victor paused.
That pause mattered.
Miriam noticed too.
“You have evidence of delivery?” she asked.
Victor lifted the leather portfolio.
“I have everything I need.”
Ruth held out her hand.
“Then give it to counsel.”
“No.”
“Why come here?”
“To prevent a panicked board from damaging the value of collateral.”
Ruth laughed softly.
“You do not get to supervise our panic.”
Victor’s composure thinned.
“I have three point two billion dollars exposed.”
“No,” Daniel said from the doorway.
Everyone turned.
He had apparently heard enough to stop being afraid of entering.
“You have three point two billion of Prescott’s acquisition reserve.”
Victor looked at him.
“Daniel Cho.”
“Where is the money?”
“Invested according to the facility terms.”
“In what?”
Victor smiled.
“Credit instruments.”
“Whose credit?”
“That is a broad question.”
“Make it narrow.”
Daniel walked closer.
“Where is the cash?”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
“It is not cash anymore.”
Daniel went pale.
“What is it?”
“A portfolio.”
“What portfolio?”
Victor looked around at the growing audience.
“This is not an appropriate venue.”
Ruth pointed toward the conference room.
“Then use the appropriate one.”
For the first time, Victor seemed to calculate retreat.
One of the security employees shifted position near the elevator.
He did not block it.
He simply became noticeable.
Victor saw that too.
“You realize I am here voluntarily.”
“Yes,” Miriam said.
“And you may leave voluntarily.”
Everyone looked at her.
She continued.
“But if you do, Prescott’s board will make decisions without your explanation, Hawthorne will proceed based on the documents presently available, and your refusal will become part of the record.”
Victor studied her.
“That sounded like a threat.”
“It was a description.”
He smiled faintly.
“I like you.”
“I am devastated.”
Ruth opened the conference room door.
Victor walked inside.
We followed.
Jasmine entered last.
She did not sit near her father.
That seemed to bother him.
He placed the portfolio on the table and remained standing.
Marcus watched from the screen.
“Victor, we need the side letter.”
“You already have the operative documents.”
“We do not have the side letter referenced in the collateral filing.”
“That document is confidential.”
Daniel stared at him.
“To whom?”
“Mercer and Prescott.”
“I am Prescott’s CFO.”
“Are you still?”
Daniel’s face tightened.
Aaron moved before anyone could stop him.
He planted both hands on the table.
“Do not do that.”
Victor looked at him.
“Do what?”
“Talk to my people as if you own them.”
A strange silence followed.
Victor’s eyes flicked toward Ruth.
Then back to Aaron.
“I am not the one whose board just suspended him.”
Aaron’s hand tightened against the wood.
Ruth said his name once.
He stepped back.
Victor sat.
“I did not come to fight.”
Jasmine made a small sound.
Her father looked at her.
“What?”
She stared at him.
“You told me not to surrender my phone.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because frightened lawyers overcollect.”
“They already have the messages.”
Victor’s face changed.
Barely.
But it changed.
“What messages?”
“The backups.”
His eyes sharpened.
“Jasmine.”
“You told me to keep records.”
“I told you to protect yourself.”
“I did.”
He looked at her for a long moment.
Then he turned toward Aaron.
Something passed between the two men.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
I felt the hair rise on my arms.
Miriam saw it too.
“You both know what is in those messages.”
Victor leaned back.
“I know many things are in my daughter’s messages.”
Aaron said nothing.
Miriam looked at him.
“Aaron?”
He stared at Victor.
“What did you tell her?”
Victor’s eyebrows rose.
“About?”
“The default.”
“I told her nothing confidential.”
“You told her six days ago.”
Jasmine shook her head.
“He told me today.”
Aaron looked at her.
“But he knew six days ago.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
May you like
Victor folded his hands.
“The leverage covenant was breached.”
