Chapter 5 - The Glass Fortress
The room seemed to lose all air.
Grant stood frozen beside the marble fireplace, the receiver pressed to his ear, his knuckles turning white. The fire crackled softly, throwing embers against the brass mesh screen, but a sudden, violent chill gripped the back of his neck.
“Arthur,” Grant said, his voice dropping into a harsh, ragged whisper. “You’re mistaken. The Hale Trust doesn’t hold our debt. Sovereign holds our debt.”
“Who do you think backed the Sovereign facility, Grant?” Arthur yelled back, his voice cracking with exasperation. “When you started Mercer Development, you had no credit rating! You had no liquid assets! Sovereign only extended that twenty-five-million-dollar line because Thomas Hale personally signed a cross-collateralization agreement and pledged the Hale Maritime portfolio as ultimate security! The entire corporate debt structure is tethered to that trust!”
“I am the CEO!” Grant roared, slamming his crystal glass down onto the walnut console table. Scotch splashed across the polished wood, pooling near the silver decanter. “I built this company! I own eighty percent of the equity!”
“You own eighty percent of the *common stock*, Grant!” Arthur replied, his voice shaking. “Common stock in a company that currently has forty-two million dollars in liabilities and zero liquid capital without the Hale credit lines! If Sovereign calls the loan tomorrow morning because the guarantor pulled out, Mercer Development is insolvent by noon! We can't meet Friday’s payroll! The subcontractors on the marina project will walk off the site by breakfast! There will be mechanics’ liens filed against every single parcel we own by tomorrow afternoon!”
“Get our corporate counsel on the phone,” Grant ordered, his chest heaving, sweat breaking out across his forehead. “Call Julian Vance right now. Vance handles our structuring. Tell him to file an emergency injunction in Rhode Island Superior Court. Tell him we need a temporary restraining order against Sovereign before the wire system opens at eight AM!”
A heavy, sickening pause stretched across the line.
“Arthur?” Grant barked. “Did you hear me? Call Vance!”
“Grant...” Arthur said, his voice dropping to a terrifying, hollow whisper. “Who do you think Julian Vance works for?”
Grant blinked. “What are you talking about? Vance has been our corporate attorney for eight years.”
“Julian Vance doesn't work for Mercer Development,” Arthur said quietly. “He has never been our corporate attorney. He is the general counsel and sole designated executor of the Eleanor Hale Memorial Trust. He was assigned to monitor our compliance as a condition of the 2013 financing agreement. We pay his retainers through an escrow account, but his sole legal and ethical duty is to the Hale family.”
The phone in Grant’s hand slipped a fraction of an inch through his damp palm.
“I tried calling his office five minutes ago,” Arthur continued relentlessly. “His associate answered. She informed me that Vance, Sterling & Croft has formally terminated all informal advisory relationships with Mercer Development due to an unresolvable conflict of interest. Grant... Julian Vance isn’t going to help us stop this. Julian Vance is the one who filed the paperwork.”
Grant felt his knees weaken. He reached out with his free hand, catching the edge of the limestone mantelpiece to steady himself.
Beside him, Sloane was watching him with wide, alarmed eyes. “Grant? What is it? What’s happening?”
Grant didn’t look at her. He couldn’t.
“Arthur,” Grant whispered, his arrogance entirely gone, replaced by a raw, animal terror. “Where are the master files? The blue binders from the 2013 incorporation?”
“In the safe in your home office,” Arthur replied. “You have the only physical copies of the primary trust deeds. Grant, what did you do? Why did the Hale Trust pull the plug tonight of all nights?”
Grant hung up the phone without answering.
May you like
He turned on his heel and sprinted out of the library, his loafers sliding on the damp parquet of the foyer as he made for the study at the end of the east wing.
***
