Chapter 10 - Vanessa Was Waiting for a Sale
The answer came from the company’s own board records.
Six months earlier, Halston BuildWorks had entered preliminary talks with a regional construction group interested in acquiring its commercial contracts and management team.
Nothing had been finalized.
But if certain revenue targets were maintained through the fourth quarter, Derek’s ownership stake could have been worth several million dollars.
Claire stared at the projected payout.
Then at Vanessa’s consulting agreement.
A clause had been added four months earlier.
If the company changed control while she was under contract, Vanessa would receive a “strategic transition bonus.”
$450,000.
Peterson had never approved it.
Derek had.
Now three earlier facts changed meaning at once.
Vanessa’s enormous consulting payments.
Her obsession with keeping the credit line alive.
Derek’s attempt to use Claire’s signature.
They were not simply trying to survive a failing company.
They were trying to keep it looking healthy long enough to reach a sale that would reward both of them.
Claire called Peterson.
“He forged my authority to protect the acquisition?”
Peterson answered carefully.
“That’s what the timeline suggests.”
Claire thought about Derek accusing Sophie of being useless.
A child had been crying on the floor while her father protected a financial scheme worth millions to him.
The dress was never the center of the story.
Neither was the affair.
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The real betrayal was that Derek had turned his wife’s name and his daughter’s fear into tools for keeping his payout alive.
And now the company’s other owner knew it too.
