Chapter 8 - Forty Percent
Karen called Daniel immediately.
He waited until he was outside.
“What's wrong?”
“You need to come in.”
“Tell me.”
“I found something attached to the copied files.”
Daniel listened.
His expression slowly changed.
“Forty percent?”
“Yes.”
“That isn't possible.”
“The document appears authentic.”
“Rachel doesn't own any part of Morgan Development.”
Karen paused.
“She may.”
Daniel drove straight to the office.
Rachel arrived twenty minutes later after receiving his call.
Pierce joined them.
Karen displayed the document on a conference room screen.
It had been executed seven years earlier.
Before Daniel's divorce.
Before Morgan Development became successful.
Rachel remembered the date.
“That was the week I transferred my original investment into the company.”
Daniel looked at her.
“How much?”
“About six hundred thousand.”
Daniel frowned.
“That was everything?”
“At the time.”
Rachel studied the contract.
Her original contribution had been exchanged for a forty-percent founder's interest.
She had signed.
Daniel had signed.
Margaret had witnessed it.
Then Daniel's attorney at the time had supposedly filed the documents.
Rachel remembered none of this clearly.
Their daughter was only a baby.
She had been sleeping three hours a night.
Morgan Development existed in a tiny rented office.
The investment had felt more like helping her husband than buying a business.
“What happened to my shares during the divorce?”
Karen searched old corporate records.
“That is the problem.”
“What?”
“There is no record of a transfer.”
Daniel stared.
“We divided everything.”
Rachel nodded.
“I gave up any interest in the company.”
“Where is the document?”
Karen opened the divorce settlement.
Morgan Development was listed.
Rachel surrendered any marital claim to Daniel's ownership interest.
But the founder shares were not Daniel's.
They had been issued directly to Rachel.
Karen looked at them.
“This language may not have transferred personally owned shares.”
Rachel stared.
“You're saying I still own forty percent of Daniel's company?”
“Possibly.”
Daniel looked almost amused despite everything.
“You wanted the house.”
Rachel looked at him.
“You said the company was worth less than the mortgage.”
“It was.”
“Then apparently I made a terrible trade.”
For one brief second, both laughed.
The tension broke.
Then Pierce returned them to reality.
“Why was this document inside the stolen folder?”
Karen frowned.
“I didn't put it there.”
Daniel hadn't.
Neither had Rachel.
Pierce looked at the file metadata.
“Created three years ago.”
Rachel's smile disappeared.
“The year Margaret died.”
The file had been scanned from a physical document.
Someone had hidden it inside the North Harbor directory long before the current deal existed.
Daniel realized what Margaret had done.
“She hid it inside the company system.”
Karen nodded.
“Maybe because she knew someone was searching financial files.”
Pierce leaned forward.
“And now Vanessa copied it accidentally.”
Rachel considered the implications.
If Helena learned Rachel owned forty percent of Morgan Development, the entire scheme changed.
Vanessa could not acquire control through divorce.
Daniel did not own enough shares personally.
“How much do you own?”
Rachel asked.
“Fifty-two percent.”
Karen added.
“Employee trusts hold the remaining eight.”
Pierce smiled.
“Then Helena's plan was doomed years ago.”
Daniel frowned.
“Unless she didn't know.”
Rachel looked at him.
“Vanessa just gave her the document.”
Everyone went silent.
Pierce stood.
“We need to know what Helena does when she sees it.”
His phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
Then walked to the window.
“When?”
He looked at Daniel.
“Understood.”
He hung up.
“What?”
Pierce's expression was grim.
“Crescent Capital just changed its North Harbor bid.”
Karen's eyes widened.
“To what?”
Pierce named the number.
Exactly one million above the false maximum.
Daniel smiled slowly.
“They took the bait.”
Karen exhaled.
Crescent was now positioned to dramatically overpay.
But Pierce did not smile.
“That isn't all.”
Rachel felt the warning in his voice.
“What happened?”
“Helena called an emergency board meeting at Crescent.”
“So?”
“She is withdrawing from North Harbor.”
Daniel stared.
“Why?”
Pierce turned toward the screen showing Rachel's forty-percent stake.
“Because she found something she wants more.”
Rachel's phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
She ignored it.
It buzzed again.
A text appeared.
We should discuss what belongs to you.
Rachel showed Pierce.
Another message arrived.
Your daughter deserves the future Margaret intended.
Daniel's face hardened.
“She's using Ellie.”
Rachel typed nothing.
A third message appeared.
Meet me tonight.
Come alone.
Pierce shook his head.
“You're not going.”
Rachel looked at him.
“I am.”
Daniel immediately objected.
“No.”
Rachel faced him.
“If Helena believes I'm the largest obstacle, she'll come after me anyway.”
“Then let Pierce handle it.”
“She contacted me.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“And she mentioned Ellie.”
“That is exactly why I want to hear what she says.”
Pierce considered.
Finally, he nodded.
“We control the location.”
Daniel looked furious.
“Absolutely not.”
Rachel met his eyes.
“For years, people made decisions about my money, my marriage, and apparently my company without telling me.”
May you like
She picked up her coat.
“That ends now.”
