Chapter 7 - The Agreement That Wasn't Supposed to Exist
Denise found the next clue in a place Erin never would have looked.
Mercer Biomedical's annual lender certification.
The company had a $14 million revolving credit facility with a regional bank.
Under the loan agreement, certain related-party transactions required disclosure.
The $2.4 million payment to Victoria's entity did not appear on the certification Ryan signed as CFO.
“That's why the auditors care,” Denise explained.
“Not because he's divorcing me.”
“Correct. Your divorce may be exposing something they were already examining.”
Erin appreciated the distinction.
Not every fact existed for her benefit.
The audit had its own reason to exist.
Denise then pointed to an email listed in the company's document index.
Subject: voting continuity side letter.
The actual attachment had not been produced in Erin's divorce case.
But its date was visible.
March 14.
10:52 p.m.
Forty-six minutes before Noah was born.
Erin sat perfectly still.
She remembered that night with painful clarity.
Her blood pressure had dropped.
Noah's heart rate had become unstable.
A nurse had asked Ryan to put on surgical scrubs.
He disappeared.
Erin called him twice before he returned.
He said Victoria was panicking and he had been calming her down.
Now Erin knew he had also been dealing with corporate paperwork.
“Can we get the side letter?” she asked.
“Through discovery, if it's relevant and the court orders production.”
Ryan's attorneys fought it.
They argued that corporate governance documents were confidential and unrelated to the marital estate.
Leah narrowed the request.
Only documents concerning Ryan's transferred shares, consideration received, voting rights, repurchase rights, and beneficial ownership.
The judge allowed limited discovery.
That decision changed Ryan.
He stopped sending angry texts.
He stopped demanding Erin come home.
He became polite.
“I want us to handle custody reasonably,” he wrote.
Erin showed Leah.
“He's scared,” Erin said.
“Maybe. Don't negotiate based on psychology.”
Erin nodded.
That weekend Ryan arrived for a scheduled visit with Noah carrying groceries and a stuffed elephant.
“You don't have to perform for me,” Erin said.
“I'm trying not to fight.”
For the first time, he looked tired rather than furious.
“Drop the corporate discovery.”
Erin said nothing.
“You can have the house.”
Her stomach tightened.
“The house is worth eight hundred thousand dollars.”
“I know.”
“And you want me to stop asking about shares worth millions.”
Ryan looked toward Noah.
“I'm offering stability.”
Erin finally understood Victoria's earlier word.
Stability.
May you like
In their family, it did not mean safety.
It meant accepting whatever arrangement Ryan and Victoria had already chosen for everyone else.
