PART 3 — THE MORNING HE LOST EVERYTHING
Daniel regained consciousness at 8:17 the next morning. By 8:45, he’d called eleven times. I picked up the twelfth.
“Emily!” he shouted. “What the hell have you done?”
“Good morning, Daniel.”
“My company email doesn’t work. My corporate cards have been canceled. Richard says the board suspended me!”
“Correct.”
“You can’t do that!”
“I didn’t. The board did.”
He breathed heavily.
“Emily, this isn’t funny.”
“I agree.”
“You’re embarrassing me in front of my family!”
I glanced at the divorce petition on my desk.
“Which family, Daniel?”
Silence.
Then he whispered, “You know about Vanessa.”
“And your daughter.”
“It’s complicated.”
“Four years is not complicated. It’s deliberate.”
He changed tactics.
“Listen, sweetheart. I made mistakes, but we can fix this.”
“We can’t.”
“You’ll destroy everything we’ve built!”
“No. I’m protecting what I built.”
He laughed bitterly.
“You think you built my company?”
“I know exactly who owns it.”
Another pause.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you’re speaking to the controlling shareholder.”
His breathing shifted. I could practically picture the realization spreading across his face.
“You’re lying.”
“Ask Margaret to send your lawyer the capitalization table.”
He disconnected.
Twenty minutes later, Richard called, his voice trembling.
“Emily, please. Daniel just told me something ridiculous. You’re saying you own the majority of the business?”
“Seventy-eight percent.”
“That isn’t possible!”
“It has been possible for eight years.”
“You tricked us!”
“No, Richard. You never bothered to ask.”