Chapter 5 - The Business Was Already Drowning
Rachel would not let David remain in the room because he represented me.
He called an independent attorney, Caroline Brooks, and waited until Caroline arrived before allowing Rachel to explain anything financial.
I agreed to listen from the opposite end of the conference table.
Rachel looked smaller without Trent beside her.
“Aster Bridge froze the company account before we sold the house,” she said.
“What company account?” I asked.
“Northline Digital Systems.”
That was the first time I heard the legal name of Trent’s business.
Northline sold automated online storefront packages to people who wanted to operate e-commerce companies without inventory. Customers paid between twelve and thirty thousand dollars for software, coaching, advertising, and access to suppliers.
The glossy videos were not the product.
The promises were.
By spring, stores were failing. Customers demanded refunds. Credit-card disputes increased. Aster Bridge began withholding most new payments in a reserve account.
Trent told Rachel that depositing nearly five hundred thousand dollars would satisfy the processor, release more than a million dollars in frozen sales, and stabilize the company.
“You believed that?” I asked.
Rachel stared at the table.
“I believed we’d lose everything if I didn’t.”
“You lost the house anyway.”
“We were supposed to buy another one when the reserve cleared.”
The bank envelope contained a notice that Aster Bridge had requested enhanced verification of the company’s ownership, customer-refund obligations, and source of funds.
The notice was dated before the closing.
Rachel had known the account was under investigation.
She had still approved the wire.
“What did Trent say when the money remained frozen?” Caroline asked.
“He said the processor needed a residential business address and stronger financial backing.”
I thought of the six suitcases in my foyer.
They had not arrived only because Rachel and Trent needed bedrooms.
Trent intended to establish my home as the company’s new address.
Rachel closed her eyes.
May you like
“He said if we lived with you, the processor would see stable family assets.”
My house had been the next thing he planned to place beneath his collapsing business.
