Chapter 12 - The Morning Everything Was at Stake
Friday arrived cold and wet.
My twenty-ninth birthday.
I woke before dawn in the hotel room and stared at the ceiling.
There were eleven people at Vale Atelier who wanted to keep their jobs.
There was a company carrying debt.
There was a husband who had assaulted me.
A forged proxy.
A father who wasn't dead.
And a mother who had left behind more unanswered questions than I knew how to carry.
My phone lit up.
A message from Aunt Janine.
Happy birthday, sweetheart. Your mom would want you to eat breakfast before you take on the world.
I laughed despite myself.
Then I cried a little.
At eight fifteen, I met Maya outside the courthouse.
Ana and Ruth were waiting near the entrance.
My father stood a short distance away.
He hadn't asked to sit with us.
I was grateful for that.
Inside, Nathan sat beside his attorneys.
Celeste wasn't there.
Charles Crane occupied a seat behind him.
When Nathan noticed me, he leaned toward his lawyer and whispered something.
For a moment, I saw the same contempt that had been on his face in the jewelry store.
Then he noticed Maya watching him.
His expression changed.
The hearing began.
Maya explained the trust arrangement, the impending distribution of shares, and the proposed corporate sale.
She presented the proxy and the evidence raising serious questions about its authenticity.
My travel records.
Janine's sworn statement.
Nora Price's account of the improper notarization.
The messages supplied by Celeste.
And the preliminary observations from Claire Bennett, who had identified similarities between the disputed signature and the old design certificate.
Nathan's attorney argued that the transaction was commercially necessary.
He said the shareholder dispute could threaten the company's financing.
He characterized the signature question as unresolved.
Maya agreed that the full merits required further examination.
Then she asked the court to prevent anyone from using the disputed proxy until that examination could occur.
The judge questioned both sides.
"What is the harm if the vote is delayed?"
Nathan's lawyer spoke about financing deadlines and a buyer that might withdraw.
"And what is the harm if the vote proceeds under a proxy later determined to be invalid?"
He hesitated.
The judge looked down at the papers.
I could hear the air-conditioning.
A pen scratching.
Someone shifting behind us.
Finally, the judge issued temporary relief.
The disputed proxy could not be used to vote my shares while the matter received further review.
The court set an expedited schedule for additional evidence and argument.
The order wasn't a final finding of forgery.
It didn't dissolve my marriage.
It didn't solve the company's finances.
But it meant Nathan couldn't use that document to sell Vale Atelier that morning.
I gripped Maya's hand beneath the table.
Nathan leaned toward his attorney.
His face had gone white.
Outside the courtroom, Maya looked at me.
"We stopped today's vote."
I exhaled slowly.
For the first time in days, I felt the possibility of relief.
Then her phone rang.
She listened.
Her expression became serious.
"What do you mean, the buyer moved the deadline?"
She looked at me.
Nathan wasn't finished.
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Sable & Finch had informed the company that its offer would expire in seven days.
And Charles Crane was threatening to withdraw his financial support if the sale didn't proceed.
