Chapter 14 - THE LAST OFFER
Mediation began at eight Friday morning.
North & Finch's deadline was five that evening.
Grant arrived in the same dark coat he had worn when he pulled the sketchbook from the showroom case.
Avery noticed.
She wondered if he did.
They spent three hours in separate rooms.
Numbers crossed hallways.
Arguments crossed hallways.
Nobody crossed emotionally.
At noon, Grant's side offered repayment of half the post-separation royalties.
Avery declined.
At one fifteen, they offered all of them in installments if Avery permanently waived any challenge to the divorce disclosures.
She declined again.
Her attorney asked, “What outcome do you actually need?”
Avery considered it.
“Clean title.”
“Yes.”
“Repayment of money he took after we separated.”
“Reasonable.”
“And I need the divorce issue left open.”
“That could keep him from settling.”
“I know.”
“You may lose North & Finch.”
“I know.”
The attorney waited.
Avery said, “For eight years, every bad decision in this family was justified because the alternative felt too expensive.”
Her attorney nodded.
At three, Grant asked to speak with Avery directly.
The mediator allowed it with both attorneys present.
Grant sat across from her.
“You're willing to tank your company over money you don't even need.”
“It isn't about needing it.”
“It never is with you.”
Avery let the insult pass.
“Why do you need the divorce waiver?”
Grant glanced toward his lawyer.
Avery saw the answer before he gave one.
“If the royalties were disclosed incorrectly,” she said, “you don't know where that leads.”
“I know exactly where it leads. Years of litigation because you're angry.”
“No. It leads wherever the facts lead.”
Grant leaned forward.
“I gave up plenty in that divorce.”
“So did I.”
“You kept the thing that mattered.”
Avery looked at him.
“The company mattered to you because it mattered to me.”
His face tightened.
“That isn't fair.”
“No. It isn't.”
She meant it.
There had been a time when Grant cared about Cole House because it paid their mortgage, employed people they knew, consumed his wife's life and carried a piece of his own identity.
Reducing that to jealousy would be another convenient story.
Avery folded her hands.
“I'll recognize your documented contributions.”
Grant stared at her.
“What?”
“If this becomes litigation, I won't claim you never helped build Cole House.”
His lawyer shifted slightly.
Avery continued.
“You contributed money. You negotiated the Hartline rescue. Without it, we might have failed.”
Grant's expression became guarded.
“But?”
“But none of that gave you permission to conceal royalties later.”
He looked away.
Avery slid the settlement proposal across the table.
“Release the claims. Repay post-separation royalties over twenty-four months. Keep the initial rescue royalties. We leave the divorce disclosure issue unresolved rather than waiving it.”
“You could still sue me.”
“Yes.”
“So why would I sign?”
“Because if you don't, North & Finch gets our evidence at four thirty. The lender gets it Monday. And we file for declaratory relief over the IP.”
Grant's lawyer whispered something to him.
Grant ignored it.
“You planned this.”
“I prepared for it.”
“Same thing.”
“No.”
Avery looked at the man she had once married.
“Planning is what you do when you already know the ending you want. Preparing is what you do when you're finally willing to accept an ending you don't.”
Grant gave a humorless smile.
“Still making products out of phrases.”
“Still avoiding the question.”
He looked down at the settlement.
At four twelve, Grant picked up the pen.
Then stopped.
“What happens to Diane?”
Avery was surprised.
“What do you mean?”
“She signed the amendment.”
“She'll live with what she did.”
“No lawsuit?”
“Not from me.”
“Why not?”
“Because accountability isn't making everyone suffer the maximum amount possible.”
Grant looked at her for several seconds.
Then he signed.
His attorney exhaled.
Avery did not.
The mediator carried the signed agreement away for final processing.
Grant stood and put on his coat.
At the door, he turned.
“You know what I hated most?”
Avery waited.
“That everyone thought Cole House was proof you never needed me.”
Avery looked at him.
“It isn't.”
He seemed almost relieved.
Then she added, “It's proof that needing someone doesn't give them ownership of you.”
Grant's face changed.
He left without answering.
At 4:46 p.m., Avery's attorney transmitted the executed release to North & Finch.
There were fourteen minutes left before the deadline.
May you like
For the first time, Avery had done everything she could.
What happened next belonged to people she could not control.
