Chapter 5 - Stripping the Foundation
By noon, the house was empty.
Grant had been evicted under the watchful, uncompromising eyes of my father and Richard Hails. His own father had refused to let Grant stay at his house, telling him to go to a motel until he figured out how to face the world as a disgraced man.
Chloe had fled with Eleanor, crying uncontrollably as my stepmother berated her in the driveway for destroying our family name.
I sat at the kitchen island with a cup of black coffee, watching the winter sun illuminate the clean, silent room.
My phone rang.
It was Martin Bell, my CEO.
"Meredith!" Martin’s enthusiastic voice boomed through the speaker. "The Henderson group just sent over the signed intent forms! We’re making the official press announcement at 3:00 PM today. How does Vice President of Regional Operations sound on your new email signature?"
"It sounds great, Martin," I said, my voice steady and professional. "Thank you."
"Are you back in Chicago?"
"I am," I replied. "And Martin... I need to make a personal disclosure before the board meeting tomorrow."
"Oh? What’s up?"
"My husband, Grant Hails, operates Hails Logistics LLC, which currently holds our third-party transport contract," I explained calmly. "I am filing for divorce today. Effective immediately, I am recusing myself from all vendor management decisions regarding his company, and I strongly recommend the audit committee review his contract performance."
There was a brief pause on the line. Martin was no fool. He understood corporate politics instantly.
"Consider it done, Meredith," Martin said, his tone turning crisp and protective. "We’ll pull the transport vendor audit forward to this afternoon. Take whatever time you need today. The VP spot is yours."
"Thank you, Martin. See you tomorrow."
I hung up the phone and pulled out my laptop.
Grant had started Hails Logistics five years ago. He was a brilliant salesman, but a terrible financial manager. When he started the firm, he was two hundred thousand dollars in debt.
Who had backed his business loan?
Me.
I had co-signed his four-hundred-thousand-dollar commercial credit line using my personal assets as collateral. I had also personally invested three hundred thousand dollars of my private inheritance into his company as a sleeping partner holding forty-nine percent equity.
Grant thought I was just his loving wife who didn't keep track of the fine print.
He forgot that I was a senior corporate strategist who spent sixty hours a week analyzing balance sheets.
I called my divorce attorney, Marcus Mercer—a ruthless, highly respected family law practitioner in downtown Chicago.
"Marcus," I said as soon as he answered. "I’m sending you a file. I want a complete freeze on all joint accounts, an emergency injunction against Hails Logistics assets, and I am pulling my personal guarantee on his commercial loan by five o'clock today."
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"If you pull the credit guarantee, Meredith," Marcus noted with a sharp chuckle, "his bank will call in his line of credit within forty-eight hours."
"I know," I replied coldly. "Let them call it."
