Chapter 4 - THE DIVORCE WAS PART OF THEIR BUSINESS PLAN
Rebecca stopped the shareholder meeting before breakfast.
A Cook County judge issued a temporary order preventing any issuance of new shares until ownership and notice questions could be reviewed.
My forty-three percent remained forty-three percent.
That should have made me feel safe.
It didn’t.
Because now I had to ask the uglier question.
How long had Arthur known?
I called him.
He answered immediately.
“Mariana.”
“Did you know about the shareholder withdrawal?”
Silence.
“Arthur.”
“I knew there was paperwork.”
“Did you know my signature was on it?”
Another pause.
“Yes.”
My stomach dropped.
“Did I sign it?”
“No.”
There it was.
Not Beatrice.
Not Diego.
My ex-husband.
He knew.
“Why?”
“Mom said it was temporary.”
I laughed.
“Temporary forgery?”
“She said we needed flexibility after the divorce.”
“We?”
“The company.”
“No. You mean your family.”
He exhaled.
“I was going to fix it.”
“When?”
No answer.
Then I asked:
“Did you refuse custody because of Mateo?”
His silence lasted too long.
“Partly.”
Chloe was standing across the room.
She couldn’t hear his exact words.
She could see my face.
“What’s the other part?”
Arthur sounded ashamed.
“Mother said the divorce needed to look clean.”
I sat down.
“What does that mean?”
Beatrice believed my continued involvement in the company would frighten lenders and family-controlled directors.
A bitter divorce.
Four daughters.
A forty-three-percent female shareholder living in another state.
Messy.
So she proposed a narrative.
Arthur would not fight custody.
I would move to Boston.
He would focus publicly on “his new household.”
Then the Vances would offer to buy my shares later.
Cheaply.
Once I was financially exhausted from raising four children alone.
I almost admired the cruelty.
“What price?”
Arthur whispered:
“Eight million.”
My forty-three percent was worth at least twenty-six million based on the company’s most recent valuation.
They planned to wait until I was overwhelmed, then offer less than one-third of its value.
Arthur said:
“I never agreed to force you.”
“You agreed not to fight custody because your mother told you I’d become easier to buy out.”
Silence.
That was yes.
Then he said:
“I thought Mateo was my son.”
“And your daughters?”
He began crying.
That did not move me.
“Mariana—”
“No. Answer.”
“I convinced myself they were better with you.”
“Convenient.”
“I know.”
Then Arthur said something unexpected.
“The recapitalization wasn’t my idea.”
“Whose?”
“Diego’s.”
Of course.
Diego owned no shares.
But if new investors entered through a company he controlled, he could finally buy power.
Then Arthur whispered:
“And Mother promised him something.”
“What?”
“If Mateo was accepted as my son, Diego would secretly control whatever inheritance Mateo received.”
May you like
The fake heir had not been created only because Beatrice wanted a grandson.
Diego had built a child-sized doorway back into the company.
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