Chapter 6 - The Shares Delaney Already OwnedFor several seconds, Delaney simply stared at the phone.
“No.”
Claire looked miserable.
“I saw the original.”
Delaney shook her head.
“That wasn’t in the archive.”
“Because you had the photocopy.”
“From Grandpa’s files.”
“Yes.”
Claire continued.
“The original has a second schedule attached.”
Vivienne stepped toward the screen.
“What schedule?”
Claire swallowed.
“Schedule B.”
Ambrose looked as stunned as she did.
Roman noticed.
“You didn’t know?”
Ambrose shook his head.
“No.”
Delaney laughed sharply.
“Convenient.”
Roman turned.
“Not everything is automatically another lie.”
She looked at him.
“You’re defending him again.”
“No.”
Roman’s voice stayed calm.
“I’m asking whether you have evidence he knew.”
Delaney said nothing.
Good.
Ambrose looked at Vivienne.
“Did you transfer shares to Delaney?”
Vivienne closed her eyes.
“I signed something after she was born.”
“What?”
“I don’t remember.”
“You don’t remember giving fifteen percent of a company away?”
“It wasn’t worth what it is now.”
“It was still substantial.”
Vivienne’s face hardened.
“Your father put papers in front of me.”
Ambrose froze.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
William Hart.
The family patriarch.
Vivienne continued.
“He said the shares should go into a generation-skipping trust.”
“For Delaney?”
“Yes.”
Ambrose looked shaken.
“He never told me.”
“You were in London.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because by then we were fighting constantly.”
Ambrose rubbed his forehead.
Roman watched.
This family had preserved resentment better than paperwork.
Nolan spoke through video.
“Fascinating reunion.”
Ambrose looked at screen.
“What do you want?”
“Same thing.”
“The audit.”
“No.”
“Then perhaps Delaney would like to know what her shares are worth.”
Delaney moved closer.
“Nolan.”
His smile returned.
“You should have asked me more questions.”
Her face changed.
Roman saw it.
“You knew.”
Nolan shrugged.
“I knew there was a claim.”
“You told me I had nothing.”
“I told you Ambrose controlled everything.”
“That is not the same.”
“No.”
He enjoyed technical truth.
Delaney’s voice sharpened.
“You knew I might own fifteen percent.”
“Yes.”
“And you still told me we needed the debt takeover.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Nolan looked almost bored.
“Because your shares are minority equity.”
“Pretty.”
“Valuable.”
“Powerless.”
Ambrose said:
“And his debt would be senior.”
Roman understood.
Nolan wanted Delaney to believe she needed him.
If she knew she already held a strong equity claim, she might negotiate directly.
No default.
No Aster Ridge.
No discounted assets for Nolan.
Delaney stared.
“You lied.”
Nolan smiled.
“You forged your husband’s signature.”
“Let’s not become moral accountants.”
Roman almost laughed at the audacity.
Claire looked toward Nolan.
“I’m done.”
His face changed.
“What?”
“I said I’m done.”
She stood.
“I gave you the board letter.”
“I gave you Silver Lake.”
“I thought you were forcing Ambrose to settle.”
“You told me nobody would lose the company.”
Nolan’s voice cooled.
“Sit down.”
Claire stared.
“No.”
Roman immediately called police from his phone.
Nolan noticed on video.
“Roman.”
“You wanted an independent witness?”
Roman said.
“Congratulations.”
Nolan disconnected.
Ambrose called Hartwell security.
Then police.
This time no private solution.
Delaney sat.
Her face empty.
Vivienne looked at her.
“You did all this…”
“I didn’t know.”
“You should have.”
Delaney looked up sharply.
“Don’t.”
Vivienne continued.
“You were moving millions.”
“You were filing court petitions.”
“You were framing your father.”
“You do not get to say you didn’t know what Nolan wanted.”
“He lied.”
“Yes.”
“So did you.”
Delaney began crying.
For once no one moved to comfort her.
Roman hated that part of himself.
He still wanted to.
Habit.
Love.
Whatever remained.
He sat across from her instead.
“Why didn’t you tell me about your mother’s shares?”
“I did.”
“No.”
“You told me Ambrose cheated her.”
“He did.”
“Maybe.”
She glared.
Roman corrected.
“He handled it badly.”
“Maybe worse than badly.”
“But you never told me you were working with Nolan.”
“You never told me you opened companies.”
“You never told me you were moving money.”
“You never told me you were preparing a conservatorship petition.”
Delaney whispered:
“You would have stopped me.”
Roman stared.
“Yes.”
“That is why spouses tell each other things before doing them.”
She looked away.
The police arrived at Hartwell’s downtown office fifteen minutes later.
Claire remained there.
Nolan had left.
Security footage showed him exiting through parking garage carrying a black document case.
The original ownership agreement was gone.
So was the copy of Ambrose’s 2004 Silver Lake file.
And something else.
Claire told police Nolan had taken a red folder from her bag.
Ambrose frowned.
“What red folder?”
Claire looked ashamed.
“Delaney gave it to me.”
Roman turned toward Delaney.
Again.
“What was in it?”
She said nothing.
Ambrose asked:
“Delaney?”
Her shoulders dropped.
“Dad’s medical records.”
Roman stared.
“What?”
Delaney whispered:
“Not just medical.”
“What else?”
“Emails.”
“Private recordings.”
Roman’s voice hardened.
“Recordings of who?”
“Dad and Mom.”
Vivienne’s face went white.
“You recorded us?”
Delaney looked at her.
“I needed proof.”
“Of what?”
“That he controlled you.”
Vivienne stepped backward.
“You recorded our bedroom?”
“No.”
“Where?”
“Kitchen.”
“Study.”
“Car.”
Roman felt sick.
Delaney had been collecting her parents’ marriage like evidence.
Then she whispered:
“There is one recording Nolan can use to destroy Dad.”
Ambrose stared.
“What recording?”
Delaney looked at him.
“The night Mom told you she wanted a divorce.”
Vivienne froze.
Roman asked:
“What happened?”
Delaney’s eyes filled.
“Dad said if she left him…”
A pause.
“…he would make sure she never saw a dollar.”
Ambrose closed his eyes.
Vivienne looked away.
Roman stared.
“Did you say that?”
Ambrose answered quietly.
“Yes.”
The father Delaney framed was innocent of attacking her.
May you like
But he was not innocent of everything she feared.
And Nolan now had proof.
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