Chapter 9 - Twenty Percent of a Company
Kendra stared at the amended operating agreement until the words blurred.
“This is impossible.”
Lena sat across from her.
“The state filing itself does not establish ownership percentages, but if Adrian has been presenting this agreement to banks or buyers, it matters.”
“I never approved dilution.”
“I know.”
“Could he actually take twenty percent from me?”
“Not lawfully under the original operating agreement without your consent.”
“But he tried.”
“Yes.”
Kendra read the signature again.
It looked better than the signature on the bank consent.
Not because it was genuine.
Because it had been copied from somewhere clean.
Lena pointed to the date.
“Do you remember signing anything on March twelfth?”
Kendra checked her calendar.
She had been in Chicago for a procurement conference.
She showed Lena the flight confirmation.
“Then we have another piece of evidence.”
Kendra called Brielle.
“I need to ask you about Linden’s twenty-percent interest.”
Brielle’s confusion sounded genuine.
“What twenty-percent interest?”
“You supposedly became a member of Mercer Beauty four months ago.”
“No.”
“There is an amended agreement.”
“I never saw one.”
“Linden is listed as owning twenty percent.”
Brielle went silent.
“I don’t own part of the salon.”
“According to this, your company does.”
“No.”
“Adrian never told you?”
“No.”
Kendra’s anger sharpened.
“Check your tax documents.”
“What am I looking for?”
“A K-1.”
Ten minutes later, Brielle called back.
“I have one.”
Kendra closed her eyes.
“What does it say?”
“Linden Advisory Group. Twenty percent.”
“Did you file taxes using it?”
“My accountant did.”
“Did you ask where the income came from?”
“Adrian said it was investment income.”
Kendra pressed her fingers to her temple.
Her sister had spent years treating paperwork like something other people handled.
Adrian had discovered that weakness and built a tunnel through it.
But he had needed Brielle willing.
That mattered.
“Why would he give you twenty percent?”
“I thought…”
“What?”
Brielle hesitated.
“I thought he was putting things in place for after the divorce.”
Kendra laughed once.
The sound frightened even her.
“So you knew you were taking my business interest.”
“I didn’t know it came from yours.”
“Whose did you think it came from?”
“His.”
“Adrian only had fifty-one.”
“I didn’t know the percentages.”
“Because you didn’t ask.”
“No.”
“Because asking questions might have ruined the fantasy.”
Brielle started crying.
Kendra did not comfort her.
Not yet.
Lena gestured toward the agreement.
“Ask her whether she ever gave Adrian access to Linden’s bank account.”
Kendra did.
Brielle answered immediately.
“Yes.”
“Full access?”
“He was an authorized manager.”
Kendra looked at Lena.
Lena’s expression said everything.
“Brielle,” Kendra said, “send us the Linden bank statements.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to know where the $287,250 went after Mercer Beauty paid you.”
Brielle became quiet.
“I spent some.”
Kendra’s pulse quickened.
“How much?”
“Maybe fifteen thousand.”
“On what?”
“Rent. Credit cards.”
“So where is the rest?”
“I thought it was still there.”
“You thought?”
“I don’t check it often.”
Kendra closed her eyes.
“Open the account.”
Brielle did.
Then she stopped speaking.
“Kendra.”
“What?”
“There’s only nine thousand dollars.”
Silence.
“Send the statements.”
An hour later, the first records arrived.
Money entered Linden from Mercer Beauty.
Within days, most of it left.
Some transfers went to Northstar Holdings.
Others paid Adrian’s personal American Express card.
One covered $38,000 toward a luxury vehicle.
Another transferred $74,000 to an escrow company.
Lena circled that payment.
“We need to know what this bought.”
Kendra looked at the date.
Seven weeks earlier.
Brielle called again.
“I recognize the escrow company.”
Kendra’s stomach dropped.
“How?”
“Adrian took me to see a condo.”
Kendra closed her eyes.
“Of course he did.”
“He said he was buying it after the divorce.”
“Where?”
“Downtown.”
“Did you sign anything?”
“No.”
“Was the condo for you?”
Brielle whispered, “He said it would be ours.”
Kendra asked for the address.
Lena checked property records.
The condo had closed three weeks earlier.
Purchase price:
$610,000.
Owner:
Northstar Holdings LLC.
Kendra stared at the screen.
The shell company attempting to purchase Dawson Row already owned the condo Adrian had promised Brielle.
Lena pulled the incorporation records they had obtained through counsel.
The organizer was a business attorney.
The beneficial ownership information was not public.
But there was a mailing address.
Kendra recognized it.
The address belonged to Adrian’s salon accountant.
Then Lena found another document.
A personal guaranty attached to the condo loan.
The guarantor was not Brielle.
It was Adrian.
Kendra felt cold.
“He owns Northstar.”
Lena nodded.
“At minimum, he controls it.”
Kendra thought of the handwritten note.
Brielle agrees. Proceed.
The low offer.
The false consents.
The siphoned salon money.
Adrian had been moving marital business assets into a private company he controlled.
Then he planned to use that company to buy her family’s property below value.
Kendra looked at Lena.
“He wasn’t planning to build a life with Brielle.”
Lena said nothing.
Kendra looked toward the bank records.
“He was using her.”
Then her phone rang.
Brielle.
Kendra answered.
Her sister’s first words were barely audible.
“Kendra… Adrian just told me Northstar belongs to someone else.”
Kendra stared at the guaranty.
May you like
“No,” she said.
“It belongs to him.”
