Chapter 4 - The Price of Silence
By noon, Maya had received copies of the shareholder records.
I sat across from her in a conference room overlooking the East River.
A cold pack rested against my cheek.
Maya spread four documents across the table.
"Here's the ownership structure," she said.
I already knew most of it.
I owned forty-two percent of Vale Atelier.
Nathan owned eighteen percent, accumulated through investments and compensation during our marriage.
Harrow Capital owned twenty-five percent.
The remaining fifteen percent belonged to an employee benefit trust established by my mother.
"Under the current shareholder agreement, the sale requires approval from at least two-thirds of the voting shares," Maya explained.
"So without my votes—"
"Nathan and Harrow together control forty-three percent. Even if they both support the deal, that's not enough."
"But with the forged proxy, Nathan controls sixty percent before Harrow votes."
"Exactly."
I stared at the signature on the document.
It looked almost perfect.
The same narrow letters.
The same unusual curve beneath the final letter of my last name.
But there was something wrong.
I couldn't quite identify it.
"Can we stop Friday's meeting?"
"We're seeking emergency relief. I have your Portland records and your aunt's sworn statement. We're also demanding the original notary journal."
"Will that be enough?"
"I won't promise what a judge will do. But we have a serious basis to challenge this."
Maya turned to another document.
"This is the proposed purchase agreement."
The buyer was Arden Manufacturing, a large jewelry producer with facilities overseas.
Nathan had presented the sale as a chance to expand Vale Atelier's reach.
The agreement told a different story.
Arden intended to keep the designs and trademarks but had no obligation to continue production in New York.
The existing workshop could be closed within ninety days.
I looked at Maya.
"He told the employees they'd keep their jobs."
"That promise isn't in this contract."
I felt sick.
My phone buzzed.
Nathan.
I let it ring.
A message followed.
We need to discuss your behavior yesterday.
I showed Maya.
She raised an eyebrow.
"Your behavior?"
Another message arrived.
You have no idea what your mother was hiding from you.
My fingers went cold.
A third message appeared.
Ask Ruth what happened to your father.
I looked up.
"He knows."
Maya leaned closer.
"What?"
"Nathan knows Martin's alive."
She read the message.
"Don't answer."
For the first time, the forged proxy seemed connected to something far older than my marriage.
Nathan had access to my mother's files for years.
He'd studied the trust.
He'd worked with the potential buyer.
And now he was using my father's disappearance as leverage.
"How did he find Martin?" I asked.
"We'll have to establish that," Maya said.
I stood and walked to the window.
Outside, the water glittered beneath the afternoon sun.
My father had vanished seventeen years earlier.
My husband had lied to me for months.
My mother had died with a secret she'd never explained.
I was tired of learning my own history from people who had benefited from keeping me ignorant.
I turned back.
"I'm going to Vermont."
Maya considered it.
"Don't go alone."
"I'll take Ruth."
"And Emma?"
I paused.
"If your father really is alive, be prepared for the possibility that he won't be the man you remember."
May you like
I looked down at the photograph on my phone.
"I don't think he can be."
