Chapter 6 - The Family Chose a Side
Ryan's younger sister, Caroline, called Erin two days later.
They had never been close.
Caroline taught middle-school science in Annapolis and had deliberately stayed away from the family company.
“Mom says you're trying to take Mercer apart.”
Erin shifted Noah in her arms.
“Do you believe her?”
Caroline sighed.
“I don't know what I believe anymore.”
She had received a call from Mercer Biomedical's outside auditors asking whether she knew why Victoria had formed VM Strategic Holdings.
Caroline had never heard of it.
“Mom told them it was estate planning.”
“Was it?”
“That's why I'm calling.”
Caroline emailed Erin a board packet Victoria had sent her months earlier by mistake.
Erin forwarded it unopened to Leah.
Denise later reviewed the portions they could legally use.
One page mattered.
A board valuation from ten months earlier estimated Ryan's 21 percent stake at between $5.8 and $6.6 million.
Yet Victoria had supposedly acquired nearly two-thirds of it for $2.32 million.
“That's a very steep discount,” Denise said.
“Could it happen?”
“Sure. Minority-interest discounts exist. Marketability discounts exist. But this much deserves an explanation.”
There was another problem.
The board packet still described Ryan as exercising voting control over the shares he had supposedly sold.
Erin frowned.
“How can Victoria own them while Ryan controls them?”
“Through an agreement.”
“Do we have one?”
“Not yet.”
Ryan called that evening.
“Caroline sent you internal documents.”
“She sent something to my attorney.”
“You're dragging my sister into this.”
“Your auditors called her first.”
“Because you triggered a financial witch hunt.”
Erin looked at Noah asleep beside her.
“Ryan, why did your ownership supposedly drop before you gave me divorce papers?”
“Because Mom bought shares.”
“Why?”
“Succession planning.”
“Then why do you still vote them?”
A pause.
“You're way outside your depth.”
Erin nearly laughed.
It was the second time someone in his family had said that.
“Maybe.”
She paused.
“So give the auditors the agreement and prove it.”
Ryan's breathing changed.
“Stay away from my company.”
He hung up.
Caroline called ten minutes later.
Her voice was shaken.
“He called me too.”
“I'm sorry.”
“Don't be.”
Caroline hesitated.
“Erin, Mom asked me something last year.”
“What?”
“Whether I thought a marriage could survive if one spouse never understood the other person's ambitions.”
Erin felt sick.
“When?”
“About three weeks before Noah was born.”
May you like
Ryan and Victoria had not begun preparing for divorce after the baby.
Whatever they were protecting had started before Erin went into labor.
