Chapter 6 - THE SISTER WHO CHOSE HER HUSBAND
Sophie did not thank Megan for the warning.
She became furious.
“You questioned Mom like she was part of some conspiracy?”
Megan listened from her Cambridge kitchen.
“She admitted Martin asked for me not to attend.”
“Because he knew you were involved with Beacon.”
“Apparently.”
“Then maybe he wanted one day where work wasn’t following him.”
Megan looked out the window.
“Sophie, he reached for my folder.”
“Because you opened it at our wedding.”
“After Mom grabbed me.”
“You could have walked away.”
There was always one more way Megan could have behaved better.
She recognized the structure because she had lived inside it for decades.
Diane crossed a boundary.
Martin lied.
Sophie felt threatened.
Somehow Megan’s response became the cleanest thing to criticize.
“Did you sign the mortgage application?”
Silence.
“Sophie.”
“Yes.”
Megan sat down.
“Did you use your savings for the deposit?”
“Some.”
“How much?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Then why did you call me Sunday?”
Sophie started crying.
The anger vanished from Megan immediately.
“Soph.”
“One hundred and eighty thousand.”
Megan closed her eyes.
Sophie had saved aggressively for years.
“Is it refundable?”
“Most of it if financing falls through.”
“Good.”
“Stop saying good like you want it to fail.”
“I want you protected.”
“Everyone says that right before deciding what I should do.”
That sentence stopped Megan.
Sophie had a point.
Diane protected Sophie by excluding Megan.
Martin protected her by simplifying the Beacon deal.
Megan was now at risk of protecting her by taking over.
“Okay,” Megan said. “You decide.”
Sophie quieted.
“I’ll answer what I can. I won’t make the decision.”
That was the first shift between them.
It did not last.
The following morning Martin’s attorneys produced customer documents for Beacon.
Two major contracts checked out.
One did not.
The supposedly committed three-year order from NorEast Medical Components was only a nonbinding forecast.
Hail Precision had projected nearly $18 million of future revenue from it.
Martin had presented that revenue as effectively secured.
Beacon’s valuation depended partly on those forecasts.
Megan recommended an immediate price adjustment.
Hail’s family exploded.
Martin called Sophie before going into the negotiation.
By noon Sophie sent Megan one message:
Martin says you’re doing this because of what happened at the wedding.
Megan stared at it.
Then Sophie added:
May you like
I believe him.
Whatever fragile bridge had appeared between the sisters collapsed under the weight of a marriage less than a week old.
