Chapter 3 - The Price of an Empire
Leah Bennett dropped the acquisition notice on Evelyn's desk and said, “Someone got there first.”
Evelyn picked up the document.
One company name had been circled twice in red ink.
Northstar Industrial Holdings.
Beside it was a handwritten percentage.
7.4%.
Evelyn knew immediately that the battle had changed.
Northstar was not a random investor.
It was controlled by Adrian Vale.
Sixty-two years old.
Private equity legend.
Former aerospace executive.
And once, many years earlier, the man who had offered Evelyn her first job after graduate school.
“He bought Pierce's pledged shares?” Evelyn asked.
“All of them.”
“When?”
“Forty minutes before we could submit our final bid.”
Evelyn leaned back.
“Why?”
Leah shook her head.
“We don't know.”
Evelyn stared at the page.
Adrian Vale had spent most of the previous decade avoiding public fights.
He invested in manufacturing.
Infrastructure.
Defense technology.
He disliked celebrity CEOs and rarely spoke to the media.
He also knew Evelyn well enough to recognize exactly what she was doing.
That worried her.
“Has he contacted us?”
“No.”
“Call his office.”
“I already did.”
“And?”
“He wants to meet.”
“When?”
Leah gave her a look.
“Now.”
Twenty-three minutes later, Evelyn entered a private conference room on the thirty-seventh floor of a Century City tower.
Adrian Vale stood by the window.
Silver hair.
Navy suit.
No tie.
He turned when she entered.
“You look like your father.”
Evelyn stopped.
Not hello.
Not congratulations.
Not why are you trying to acquire your husband's company.
Your father.
“Hello, Adrian.”
He smiled faintly.
“I wondered how long it would take you.”
“To do what?”
“Stop pretending you were happy being decorative.”
Evelyn's expression cooled.
“You don't know anything about my marriage.”
“No.”
Adrian pointed toward the table.
“But I know what you've been buying.”
They sat.
Between them lay a copy of Calloway Aeronautics' latest annual report.
Pages were covered in Adrian's handwriting.
“You bought Pierce's shares,” Evelyn said.
“I bought the bank's collateral.”
“Why?”
“Because they were cheap.”
“That's not an answer.”
“It's the only answer investors are supposed to need.”
Evelyn waited.
Adrian smiled.
“Still impatient.”
“You asked me here.”
“Yes.”
He folded his hands.
“What do you want from Calloway?”
“A functioning company.”
“Try again.”
“Governance.”
“Again.”
Evelyn's eyes narrowed.
“You think this is personal.”
“I think all major acquisitions are personal to somebody.”
“He cheated on me.”
“I heard.”
“That has nothing to do with the investment.”
Adrian watched her.
“I believe you.”
She hadn't expected that.
He continued.
“Which is why I'm interested.”
“In what?”
“Joining you.”
Evelyn remained still.
“On what terms?”
“Northstar votes its seven point four percent with Mercer on governance matters.”
“In exchange?”
“A board seat.”
“One?”
“Two.”
“No.”
Adrian smiled.
“There she is.”
“One.”
“And participation rights on any future financing.”
“Pro rata only.”
“Agreed.”
“And you don't interfere with management appointments.”
“I reserve the right to vote.”
“Of course.”
Adrian leaned back.
“Done.”
Evelyn stared.
“That was too easy.”
“It wasn't.”
“What do you want?”
“I already told you.”
“No. Why are you doing this?”
For the first time, Adrian's expression changed.
He looked older.
Tired, perhaps.
“Your father brought me a turbine housing in 2009.”
Evelyn frowned.
“What?”
“I was running Vale Aerospace then. We had a supplier failure. Everyone told me replacing the part would take six months.”
She listened.
“Thomas Mercer walked into my office with a prototype and told me he could deliver production units in seven weeks.”
Evelyn had never heard the story.
“He did it in six,” Adrian said. “Saved us a defense contract worth two hundred million.”
“My father never told me.”
“He wouldn't.”
That sounded like Thomas.
Adrian looked at the annual report between them.
“Years later, when his shop failed, I should have helped him.”
Evelyn's face tightened.
Her father's business had closed eighteen months before he died.
Medical bills.
Lost customers.
Debt.
He had sold the building.
Then almost everything else.
“You didn't owe him anything.”
“Maybe not.”
Adrian paused.
“But I knew what he was worth. I was busy. I told myself I'd call. I didn't.”
Evelyn looked away.
“This isn't charity.”
“No.”
“Good.”
“Thomas would hate that.”
“He would.”
Adrian slid a document toward her.
“Then let's make money.”
Back at Calloway headquarters, Pierce was having a worse morning.
His attorney, Martin Keene, closed the office door behind them.
“You need to stop talking.”
Pierce glared at him.
“I pay you to advise me.”
“Then take the advice.”
“Evelyn coordinated with Vale.”
“We can't prove that.”
“She knew.”
“She looked surprised.”
“She's acting.”
Martin sat.
“Pierce, listen carefully. If you publicly accuse a shareholder group of illegal coordination without evidence, you create another problem.”
“I'll sue.”
“For what?”
“Interference.”
“With a bank enforcing your loan agreement?”
Pierce turned away.
He hated questions with obvious answers.
Martin opened his tablet.
“We need to focus on the divorce.”
Pierce looked back.
“I'm not giving her anything.”
Martin did not respond.
“What?”
“She may not ask for much.”
Pierce laughed.
“She'll ask for half.”
“Her attorney sent preliminary disclosures.”
“And?”
“She is claiming separate property status for Mercer Strategic Capital and the majority of the assets used to fund it.”
“That's ridiculous.”
“Some assets predate the marriage.”
“Everything appreciated during the marriage.”
“Not everything is community property under the way these vehicles were structured.”
Pierce stared.
“Whose side are you on?”
“Yours.”
“Then find a way.”
Martin hesitated.
“There is another issue.”
Pierce exhaled sharply.
“Of course there is.”
“Vanessa.”
“What about her?”
“She's not simply a personal complication.”
Pierce's eyes narrowed.
“What does that mean?”
“Her brother works for Ardent Dynamics.”
Pierce went still.
Ardent was Calloway Aeronautics' largest competitor.
“So?”
“He joined them eighteen months ago.”
“I know that.”
“Did you know Vanessa received consulting payments from a company controlled by an Ardent subsidiary?”
Pierce stared.
“No.”
Martin turned the tablet.
Bank records.
Three payments.
$75,000.
$120,000.
$90,000.
Pierce's face hardened.
“Where did you get this?”
“An investigator.”
“What was she consulting on?”
“We don't know.”
Pierce grabbed his phone.
“Where is she?”
“At the house, presumably.”
He called.
Vanessa answered on the fourth ring.
“Hi.”
“What have you been doing for Ardent?”
Silence.
Then: “What?”
“You heard me.”
“Pierce, I don't know what you're talking about.”
“Your consulting payments.”
Another pause.
“They're not what you think.”
“What are they?”
“Marketing work.”
“For a defense contractor?”
“Through a brand agency.”
“You told me you weren't working.”
“I wasn't full-time.”
Pierce stood.
“Did you ever access my laptop?”
“What?”
“My laptop.”
“No.”
“Did you send anyone documents?”
“Of course not.”
Her voice sounded offended.
Too offended.
Pierce ended the call.
Martin watched him.
“What are you thinking?”
“That Evelyn knew.”
“About Vanessa?”
“Maybe.”
“Why would she?”
“She left too calmly.”
Martin frowned.
“You think your wife discovering your affair was part of a corporate operation?”
“I think everyone is lying to me.”
That sentence was more accurate than Pierce understood.
At 2:00 p.m., Evelyn returned to Calloway Aeronautics for the second board meeting.
This time Adrian Vale joined by video.
Northstar's stake combined with Mercer's bloc gave Evelyn effective support representing 39.2 percent.
Still not control.
But enough to frighten everyone.
Harold began.
“We have three agenda items. Liquidity, governance, and a special investigation.”
Pierce looked up.
“Investigation of what?”
General counsel answered.
“Potential unauthorized transmission of proprietary information.”
Pierce's face changed.
“What proprietary information?”
“Orbital propulsion design data.”
Evelyn felt cold.
This was new.
“How much data?” she asked.
“We don't know.”
“When was it discovered?”
“This morning.”
Pierce turned to the counsel.
“Why wasn't I told?”
“You were.”
“When?”
“We sent an encrypted report at 11:17.”
Pierce pulled out his phone.
He hadn't opened it.
Harold continued.
“Our cybersecurity team identified multiple downloads from an executive-level credential.”
“Whose?”
No answer.
Pierce looked around.
“Whose?”
The counsel glanced at Evelyn.
Then at Pierce.
“Yours.”
Silence.
Pierce stood.
“That's impossible.”
“The access token belongs to your account.”
“I didn't download anything.”
“We're not saying you did.”
“Then who?”
“That is what the investigation must determine.”
Evelyn thought of Vanessa.
Her brother.
Ardent Dynamics.
She said nothing.
Pierce looked at her anyway.
“You knew.”
“No.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Yes.”
“Your timing is convenient.”
Evelyn leaned forward.
“Pierce, if proprietary propulsion data has been stolen, your marriage is no longer the most important problem in this room.”
His face darkened.
“You don't get to lecture me.”
“Then listen to your counsel.”
Harold raised a hand.
“Enough.”
The board voted unanimously to authorize an independent forensic investigation.
Even Pierce voted yes.
What else could he do?
Afterward, Evelyn walked toward the elevator with Leah.
“You're thinking about Vanessa,” Leah said.
“Yes.”
“You think she's involved?”
“I don't know.”
“Pierce does.”
“Pierce thinks everyone is involved.”
The elevator doors opened.
Inside stood Vanessa.
Evelyn stopped.
Vanessa looked different.
No champagne.
No oversized shirt.
She wore jeans, a black coat, and no makeup.
Her face was pale.
“Evelyn.”
Leah stepped slightly in front of her.
Vanessa raised both hands.
“I don't want trouble.”
“Then why are you here?” Evelyn asked.
“To talk to you.”
“About what?”
“Pierce.”
Evelyn almost walked away.
Then Vanessa said, “He doesn't know what I found.”
Evelyn stopped.
Leah looked at her.
“What did you find?” Evelyn asked.
Vanessa glanced toward the security camera.
“Not here.”
“Then where?”
Vanessa reached into her bag.
Leah tensed.
But Vanessa only removed a small silver flash drive.
She held it between two fingers.
“I copied this from Pierce's home office six weeks ago.”
Evelyn's expression changed.
“What is it?”
“I don't know everything.”
“Then why copy it?”
“Because my brother told me the file name shouldn't exist.”
Evelyn stared at the drive.
“What file name?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“Project Lazarus.”
Evelyn had never heard it.
Leah had.
Evelyn saw it instantly in her face.
“You know what that is?”
Leah whispered, “I know what it was supposed to be.”
“Supposed to be?”
“A cancelled propulsion program.”
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“It wasn't cancelled.”
Evelyn looked at the flash drive.
Vanessa stepped closer.
“Pierce wasn't selling the company.”
“What was he selling?”
Vanessa opened her mouth.
Before she could answer, every phone in the executive corridor buzzed at once.
Emergency security alert.
Evelyn looked at her screen.
UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS — PROPULSION LAB.
Then another line appeared.
ACTIVE DATA TRANSFER DETECTED.
Location: Executive Terminal 01.
Pierce Calloway's office.
Evelyn turned toward the end of the corridor.
His office door was closed.
May you like
The security light above it turned red.
Then the handle moved from the inside.
