Chapter 8 - THE COMPANY IS REALLY SICK
Northline Credit agreed to a call within six hours.
That alone told Evelyn Cross had not been forgotten by the market.
But the call was brutal.
Northline’s managing partner, Rachel Kim, did not flatter.
“We like the medical components business.”
“What don't you like?”
“Everything around it.”
Malcolm almost smiled.
Rachel continued.
“Pennsylvania capex is undisciplined.”
Howard bristled.
Evelyn ignored him.
“Correctable?”
“Yes.”
“Aerospace?”
“Potentially valuable.”
“Real estate?”
“Non-core.”
“Management?”
Silence.
Howard leaned forward.
“Say it.”
Rachel did.
“Founder concentration is a risk.”
Howard laughed.
“I assume that means me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your board has approved every major capital allocation request you made for nine years.”
“They were successful.”
“Until one wasn't.”
Silence.
Rachel continued:
“Cross Precision does not need a funeral. It needs restructuring.”
Evelyn wrote the sentence down.
“What would Northline require?”
“Asset disposition.”
“How much?”
“At least twenty-five million gross proceeds.”
“Pennsylvania sale-leaseback?”
“Possibly.”
“Interest?”
Rachel named a number high enough to make Howard curse.
“Equity kicker?”
“Yes.”
Howard stood.
“No.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“We are listening.”
“You can listen without me.”
He left.
Rachel paused.
“Does he do that often?”
Malcolm said:
“Yes.”
Evelyn said:
“Not for much longer if he keeps it up.”
Rachel almost smiled.
They continued.
Northline would require an independent executive chair and a restructuring committee.
Howard could remain CEO temporarily or transition depending on milestones.
Not immediate exile.
But loss of unilateral control.
After the call, Malcolm said:
“It’s expensive.”
“Is it survivable?”
“Yes.”
“Compared to Whitmore?”
“Whitmore is better financially.”
“Assuming Logan doesn't weaponize timing.”
“Yes.”
Lydia joined by video.
“We need both paths alive.”
Evelyn frowned.
“You want Whitmore too?”
“I want options.”
“I hate them.”
“Options?”
“Depending on someone who threw underwear at me.”
Lydia’s face remained neutral.
“Your emotional disgust is not a capital-structure analysis.”
Evelyn stared.
Malcolm looked at the ceiling.
Then Evelyn laughed.
“Fine.”
Lydia continued:
“Whitmore Capital is not Logan Whitmore.”
“Apparently he thinks it is.”
“Then test that.”
“How?”
“Conrad.”
Evelyn hesitated.
Logan’s father.
Chairman.
A man known for being colder than his son.
“I’ve met him six times.”
“Enough.”
“He’ll protect Logan.”
“Maybe.”
“Why would he help us?”
“Don't ask for help.”
Lydia leaned closer to the camera.
“Ask whether his firm permits personal relationships to influence credit decisions.”
That was different.
Evelyn looked at Malcolm.
“Can we survive if Whitmore delays a week?”
“Barely.”
“Two?”
“Maybe not without emergency measures.”
“So time is still Logan’s weapon.”
“Yes.”
The company was genuinely sick.
That prevented satisfying fantasies.
No single email would cure liquidity.
No moral victory would fund payroll.
Evelyn spent the afternoon reviewing businesses Cross could sell.
The logistics unit surprised her.
Howard had refused because he considered it strategically useful.
Malcolm showed data.
“It destroys return on capital.”
“Then why keep it?”
“Howard likes owning his own distribution network.”
“Of course.”
“Control.”
“Yes.”
Evelyn realized control was the hidden expense everywhere.
Howard paid for it.
Logan demanded it.
Sienna admired it.
Even Evelyn had once mistaken Logan’s need for control as competence.
At five, she received an email from Whitmore Capital’s diligence team.
Additional questions.
Thirty-six of them.
Most reasonable.
Five repeated previously answered topics.
Lydia reviewed.
“Delay tactics?”
“Could be.”
“Can we tell who requested them?”
“No.”
Evelyn looked at the questions.
One asked for updated disclosure regarding “potential changes in sponsor-family alignment.”
There.
Not romantic.
Not wedding.
Sponsor-family alignment.
The cage translated into finance language.
Evelyn forwarded it to Conrad Whitmore’s office with a short note.
Mr. Whitmore,
Before Cross responds, I would appreciate confirmation that Whitmore Capital’s credit process is being conducted independently of any change in my personal relationship with your son.
I am available at your convenience.
She hesitated before sending.
Then clicked.
Howard entered ten minutes later.
“What did you do?”
“Contacted Conrad.”
His face changed.
“You went around Logan?”
“Yes.”
“Evelyn.”
“What?”
“That could make this worse.”
She looked at him.
“You still think Logan is the safest person in this deal.”
“He is the person we know.”
“No.”
Evelyn closed the laptop.
“He is the person who knows how afraid you are.”
There was a difference.
May you like
And fear had become far too expensive.
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