Chapter 10 - The Board Meeting That Did Not ExistMaddox called the board chairman.
No meeting.
No sale vote.
No agenda.
Tessa insisted.
“Nathan showed me.”
“Showed you what?”
“A board package.”
“Send it.”
Minutes later, a PDF arrived.
Mercer Development.
Special Board Meeting.
Friday, 9:00 a.m.
Purpose:
Review and approval of strategic transaction with NorthGate Equity Partners.
Maddox knew NorthGate.
A private equity firm that had approached them twice.
He had rejected both offers.
Silas had too.
“What price?” Silas asked.
Maddox opened the attachment.
$410 million enterprise value.
Huge.
Enough to change everyone's life.
Also lower than Maddox believed Mercer Development could be worth in three years.
“Who signed the term sheet?”
At the bottom:
Maddox Mercer.
Signature.
He stared.
“I didn't sign this.”
Silas leaned closer.
Nathan's signature appeared too.
Then Eleanor's.
She entered behind them.
“What?”
Maddox showed her.
Eleanor's face changed.
“I signed something from Nathan last month.”
“What?”
“A confidentiality acknowledgment.”
“Could this be the signature page?”
She examined.
“Yes.”
Silas swore.
Signature pages again.
Real signatures moved onto different documents.
Maddox immediately thought of their father.
Corruption had taught everyone the usefulness of hidden structures.
Now the next generation was paying for it.
“Why does Brielle care about the sale?” Silas asked.
Tessa answered over speakerphone.
“She said the prenup changes if Mercer Development is sold.”
Maddox frowned.
Catherine, Brielle's lawyer, looked up.
“It might.”
Maddox turned.
“What?”
Brielle's prenup protected Maddox's ownership of Mercer Development shares as separate property.
But if shares were sold during marriage and proceeds were commingled into certain marital investment accounts, classification could become disputed.
Maddox stared at Brielle.
“You were trying to make me sell.”
“No.”
“You knew about NorthGate.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Nathan.”
“Did you want the sale?”
She hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because then we could finally build something that was ours.”
Maddox laughed.
“You mean money you could claim in a divorce.”
Her face hardened.
“I wasn't planning to divorce you.”
“You were sleeping with Nathan.”
“I didn't know what I was planning.”
“That is convenient.”
Catherine interrupted.
“Let's stay with the transaction.”
Maddox appreciated the discipline.
“Who created the fake board package?”
Brielle said:
“Nathan.”
“Why tell you?”
“He said NorthGate would pay management bonuses after closing.”
“To him?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Eight million.”
Silas whistled.
There was Nathan's real incentive.
Maddox asked:
“And you?”
Brielle looked down.
“He said if the sale happened, we'd leave.”
Maddox felt nothing this time.
Not even surprise.
“Where?”
“California.”
“With Ivy?”
Brielle's eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Maddox's voice became cold.
“You planned to take my daughter across the country with the man sleeping with my wife?”
“We hadn't decided.”
“You just said yes.”
“I would never take her from you.”
“You tried to take my brother from me with a false assault accusation.”
Silence.
Maddox understood now.
Silas owned forty percent and controlled Ivy's ten percent voting trust.
Together, he could block a sale.
If Silas were removed from company leadership and suspended as trustee, Nathan could temporarily control Ivy's voting shares.
Maddox, manipulated through false documents and emotional chaos, might be pressured to approve NorthGate.
Forty-five percent Maddox.
Ten percent Ivy through Nathan.
Potential support from Eleanor's fifteen percent if her signature could be misused or her Blue Hollow secrets used against her.
Enough.
“Friday wasn't a real board meeting,” Silas said.
“Not yet,” Maddox replied.
Nathan planned to make it real.
Elise traced communications.
NorthGate had indeed been negotiating with Nathan.
But NorthGate believed Maddox and Silas were both aware.
Nathan sent emails from a spoofed internal address.
He provided apparent board consents.
He even supplied a letter indicating Silas intended to resign for “personal reasons.”
Silas stared.
“He was preparing my exit before Brielle accused me.”
Maddox turned toward her.
“How long was the assault story planned?”
Brielle shook her head.
“It wasn't.”
Tessa's voice came through speaker.
“Yes, it was.”
Everyone froze.
Brielle's face went white.
“Tessa.”
“You told me.”
“Shut up.”
Catherine looked at her client.
“Brielle.”
Tessa continued.
“Three days ago, she asked me what happens to a board member accused of sexual assault.”
Silence.
Maddox felt cold.
“She said it was hypothetical.”
Brielle stood.
“She's lying.”
Tessa laughed nervously.
“I have the messages.”
Brielle stopped.
Maddox said:
“Send them.”
Screenshots arrived.
Brielle:
If a senior executive gets accused by a family member, does the company have to suspend him?
Tessa:
Probably pending investigation. Why?
Brielle:
Just curious.
Then another.
What if he's also trustee for a minor?
Maddox stared at his wife.
The accusation had not been panic.
It had been researched.
Silas looked at her with quiet disgust.
“You didn't just want him angry at me.”
Brielle said nothing.
“You wanted me removed.”
Silence.
“You wanted Nathan in my trustee seat.”
Her eyes filled.
Silas stepped closer.
“And once Nathan controlled Ivy's shares, you were going to sell the company.”
Brielle whispered:
“I wanted out.”
Maddox stared.
“Out of what?”
May you like
She looked around the Mercer family room.
“Out of being the only person here who owned nothing.”
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