Chapter 6 - WHAT HE WAS TRYING TO SAVE
Barrett stood in the kitchen of the Upper Arlington house with his suit jacket draped over a chair.
Paige’s belongings were gone.
The twins were with my sister for the evening. Marisol knew where I was, and I kept my phone in my coat pocket.
Barrett poured coffee but did not offer me any.
“You brought Paige into discovery,” he said.
“She came voluntarily.”
“She’s protecting herself.”
“So are you.”
He pushed a settlement proposal across the island. He would withdraw his custody petition, restore equal parenting time, and guarantee the boys’ school tuition.
In return, I would transfer my voting rights to him for another ten years and support his statement to the bank.
“You still think custody is something you can trade,” I said.
“I’m trying to keep two hundred people employed.”
“You told the bank you controlled shares you didn’t control.”
“Because you left.”
“I raised our children.”
“You disappeared from the company before they were born.”
I looked at him. “Which version do you want? That I contributed nothing, or that my absence destroyed everything?”
He turned away.
For the first time, Barrett admitted what he actually feared.
When Marian and I brought him into the business, he had felt like an employee inside his wife’s family. Every award, interview, and expansion made him feel less dependent. He renamed the company because he wanted one thing in his life that no one could say had been given to him.
Then the acquisition began failing.
“I thought if I got through one more quarter, none of this would matter,” he said.
“It mattered when you involved the boys.”
His jaw tightened. “I needed leverage.”
“They are your sons.”
“I know that.”
“No. You knew they were the only part of my life I wouldn’t risk.”
He sat across from me, suddenly looking older than forty-two.
“You could take the company,” he said. “You could remove me tomorrow.”
“I could call a board meeting. That isn’t the same thing.”
“What do you want?”
The question came thirteen years too late.
“I want you to correct the bank certification. I want an independent audit. I want Paige’s contracts reviewed. And I want you to tell Wyatt and Emmett that I did not steal anything from you.”
“If I do that, the board may suspend me.”
“Yes.”
“The acquisition could collapse.”
“Yes.”
He stared at the proposal between us.
“And if I refuse?”
“Paige testifies Friday. The original accountant testifies after her. Then the judge reads your message about making the boys ashamed of me.”
Barrett folded the settlement paper once, then again.
He still wanted a version of accountability that preserved his image.
I stood and put on my coat.
“Tomorrow morning,” I said. “You either correct the record yourself, or everyone else will do it for you.”
He remained at the island after I left.
At 6:17 the next morning, Ellen Price received an email from him admitting the ownership certification had been inaccurate.
At 6:22, he sent a second email claiming I had always understood what he was doing.
May you like
He had chosen accountability and deception in the same five minutes.
Both messages went to the judge.
