Chapter 8 - Forty Percent
Carter Development Holdings was worth approximately fifty-seven million dollars.
Amara had never known.
She knew the company owned apartment buildings, retail centers, and several senior-living properties across three states.
She knew it produced money.
She did not know how much.
Louise liked it that way.
Walter had spent his life building the company.
After he died, Louise became chair.
Amara worked outside the business as an architect and received occasional distributions from her shares.
She never asked detailed questions.
She had trusted accountants.
Trusted Arthur.
Trusted her mother.
Now Maya Reynolds placed a corporate ownership chart in front of her.
“This is what the company says today.”
Louise: 60%.
Amara: 32%.
Employee ownership plan: 8%.
Amara pointed.
“I started with forty.”
“You sold eight percent to the employee plan seven years ago.”
“Yes.”
“That's legitimate.”
“And Louise's sixty?”
“Twenty original plus Simone's forty.”
“Which Simone never transferred.”
“Correct.”
“If we void the transfer?”
“Louise returns to twenty.”
“And I stay at thirty-two.”
“Yes.”
“Imani gets forty?”
“Through a trust or custodial structure until adulthood, depending on the court.”
Amara stared.
“So Mom loses control.”
“Unless other voting agreements exist.”
They did.
Louise had spent years building them.
Several directors owed their positions to her.
Some investors had signed proxy arrangements.
But without Simone's forty percent, Louise could not dictate major company decisions alone.
For the first time, her power would depend on cooperation.
That, Amara realized, might frighten Louise more than losing money.
A forensic accounting firm began reviewing fourteen years of company distributions.
The missing six-point-three million from Simone's interest was only the beginning.
Louise had also approved management fees to companies she controlled.
Purchased a Charleston home through a family entity.
Charged personal travel to corporate accounts.
Some expenses might be legitimate.
Others were difficult to explain.
Then investigators found a company called Magnolia Advisory Group.
Owned by Arthur Bell's wife.
Carter Development had paid Magnolia $910,000 over twelve years.
“For what?” Amara asked.
Maya looked at the invoices.
“Estate consulting.”
“Arthur was already paid as estate attorney.”
“Yes.”
“Then why pay his wife's company?”
“That is an excellent question.”
Arthur's legal position worsened.
He stopped returning Louise's calls.
That frightened Louise.
She called Amara instead.
Amara almost didn't answer.
Then Maya said, “You can speak to her. Don't make promises. Don't threaten.”
Amara picked up.
“Hello.”
“Finally.”
Louise sounded irritated rather than desperate.
Some habits survived everything.
“What do you want?”
“To prevent you from destroying the company.”
Amara laughed.
“You mean taking it away from you.”
“I mean destabilizing ownership based on the claims of a dead woman.”
“My sister.”
“Who spent fourteen years trying to hurt this family.”
“You told me she wanted nothing to do with me.”
“She didn't.”
“You intercepted her letters.”
Silence.
Amara continued.
“You knew she had a daughter.”
“Yes.”
“You knew she was dying.”
Another silence.
That hurt most.
“When?”
Louise sighed.
“Last year.”
Amara gripped the phone.
“You knew for a year?”
“She didn't want me involved.”
“She wanted me.”
“She was trying to use you.”
“Use me for what?”
“To take control.”
Amara laughed bitterly.
“Everything with you becomes control.”
“Because control matters.”
There it was.
Honest.
Ugly.
Louise continued.
“Your father built that company out of nothing.”
“Then he gave Simone forty percent.”
“He made mistakes.”
“Was loving his daughter one?”
“Giving equal control to someone irresponsible was.”
“Simone was not irresponsible.”
“You didn't see what I saw.”
“And you made sure I couldn't.”
Louise's voice softened.
“Amara, you are letting grief make decisions.”
“No.”
Amara looked toward Imani and Zaria doing homework at the kitchen table.
“For the first time, grief isn't making me obey you.”
Louise went quiet.
Then she changed strategy.
“If Simone's shares go to Imani, the court will appoint professionals around her money.”
“Good.”
“They will drain fees.”
“Better than you draining millions.”
Louise's breath sharpened.
“You don't know what those distributions paid for.”
“What?”
“Your father's debts.”
Amara froze.
“What debts?”
Louise immediately seemed to regret the words.
“Nothing.”
“No. You said Dad's debts.”
“Forget it.”
“You don't get to do that anymore.”
Louise hung up.
Amara called Maya.
By evening the forensic accountants were searching older records.
Walter had always been portrayed as financially conservative.
No gambling.
No scandal.
No bankruptcy.
What debts could Louise possibly mean?
The answer arrived two days later.
In the year before Walter died, Carter Development had transferred $2.8 million into an entity called Heritage Renewal Partners.
The investment failed.
The company wrote it off.
Amara had never heard of it.
Maya looked concerned.
“Louise personally guaranteed part of the investment.”
“So?”
“So after Walter died, she used funds tied to Simone's distributions to satisfy approximately one-point-four million of that guarantee.”
Amara stared.
“Why?”
“We don't know.”
“Did Dad approve the investment?”
Maya turned the paperwork around.
Walter's signature appeared at the bottom.
Amara looked at it.
Then something Simone had written years earlier returned to her.
Mom is lying about Dad's last investment.
Amara leaned closer.
Walter's signature looked perfect.
Maybe too perfect.
“Get that tested.”
Maya nodded.
“If it's forged?”
Amara looked toward the old mansion visible through the office window miles away only in her memory.
“Then the fight didn't start after Dad died.”
May you like
She swallowed.
“It started before.”
