Chapter 9 - The Deadline
Michigan’s enrollment deadline was twelve days away.
Marcus discovered that at 8:03 the next morning.
He called Maya from his office.
“Have you accepted the offer?”
Silence.
“Maya?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I told you.”
“You said you almost declined.”
“I didn’t decline.”
“But you haven’t accepted.”
“I don’t know how we’d pay.”
Marcus turned away from the window.
“We figure that out after you say yes.”
“That’s not how money works.”
He nearly smiled.
She sounded exactly like him.
“Put me on speaker.”
“Why?”
“Because I want you to open the portal.”
“Dad.”
“Please.”
He heard typing.
Then Maya said, “Okay.”
“Do you see the enrollment button?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to go?”
Another pause.
“Yes.”
“Then press it.”
“What about the deposit?”
“I have five hundred dollars.”
“What about tuition?”
“I have twelve days to become very annoying.”
Maya laughed despite herself.
Marcus felt tears sting his eyes.
“Press it.”
A click.
Then silence.
Maya whispered, “I did.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
For three weeks, somebody else had controlled that moment.
Now it belonged to Maya again.
That afternoon, he met with Alicia.
The situation had worsened.
Calvin’s two companies had received a combined $181,900 from Reed Outdoor.
VBC had received another $76,300.
After overlapping transfers were removed, Alicia estimated at least $213,000 had left the company under questionable circumstances.
“Can the business survive?” Marcus asked.
“Yes.”
He exhaled.
“But cash flow will be tight.”
“How tight?”
“You’ll need to delay the warehouse renovation and probably your second equipment purchase.”
“That’s fine.”
“You may also need to reduce distributions to yourself.”
“Fine.”
Alicia studied him.
“You keep saying fine.”
“My daughter almost turned down Michigan because somebody told her my business needed her college money.”
He leaned forward.
“The business can wait.”
Alicia nodded.
“There’s another issue.”
She showed him a spreadsheet.
“Calvin’s Greenstone invoices increased after Vanessa discovered your estate documents.”
“How do you know when she found them?”
“The first big cluster appears five days after she requested a copy from your attorney.”
Marcus frowned.
“She requested it?”
“She emailed your former estate lawyer from your family account. We found the message in an archive.”
Marcus remembered.
Four years earlier, Vanessa had asked him whether the lawyer still practiced.
He had told her yes.
Then forgotten the conversation.
“So this started because of the will.”
“Possibly.”
Alicia turned the page.
“But Greenstone payments doubled last year.”
“What changed?”
“I was hoping you could tell me.”
Marcus studied the dates.
One immediately stood out.
October 14.
The week Reed Outdoor had won its largest municipal landscaping contract.
That contract had nearly doubled the company’s projected revenue.
Vanessa had celebrated with him.
She had opened wine.
She had told him she was proud.
Five days later, Greenstone’s monthly invoices increased from roughly four thousand to nine thousand.
Marcus felt physically ill.
“What else happened last October?”
Alicia asked.
Marcus thought.
Then remembered.
“We had the business valued.”
“Why?”
“A potential investor approached me.”
“How much was it valued at?”
“About 2.8 million.”
Alicia sat back.
“Did Vanessa know?”
“Yes.”
“Did Calvin?”
“I don’t know.”
Marcus did.
Vanessa had probably told him.
His phone buzzed.
Brooke had sent a photograph.
Found this in Mom’s desk. Should you see it?
The image showed a printed email from a business broker.
Subject:
Potential Sale / Reed Outdoor Design
Marcus enlarged the photograph.
The email was dated six months earlier.
It was not addressed to him.
It was addressed to Vanessa.
The message read:
Based on the figures you provided, a confidential sale process could reasonably target $3.1–$3.4M. Before proceeding, we would need confirmation of your ownership interest.
Marcus stared at the sentence.
Vanessa did not own Reed Outdoor.
She knew she did not own Reed Outdoor.
May you like
Yet six months earlier, she had privately explored selling it.
And whoever she had been talking to believed she had an ownership interest.
