Chapter 5 - The Truth About the Company“W-What is this?” Ethan stammered, his eyes darting across the legal jargon. ‘Notice of Immediate Default and Debt Acceleration. Hayes Holdings LLC, Majority Creditor.’
“It’s a reality check, Mr. Whitmore,” Marcus Vance said smoothly, taking a seat beside Claire. “For the past three years, Whitmore Construction has been trading on borrowed time—and borrowed millions.”
“That’s impossible!” Ethan yelled, slamming his fists on the table. “Our debt was restructured by an anonymous venture capital firm! We have lines of credit from—”
“From Hayes Holdings,” Daniel Bell interrupted, opening his briefcase and pulling out copies of financial wire transfers stamped with official banking seals. “Every single emergency bailout your company received to avoid bankruptcy? Funded by Samuel Hayes’ estate. Controlled exclusively by his sole heir.”
Ethan slowly turned his head, his gaze locking onto his wife. The blood drained entirely from his face until he looked like a corpse.
“C-Claire?” he whispered, his voice cracking horribly. “What... what is he talking about?”
Claire leaned back in the chairman’s chair, resting her hands neatly on the armrests. She looked at Ethan the exact same way her father had looked at the arrogant businessman in Macon twenty years ago—with quiet, pitying amusement.
“You always wondered how I managed to pay for our downtown penthouse without a corporate salary, didn’t you, Ethan?” Claire asked softly. “You assumed I came from nothing. You assumed my silence meant I was weak.”
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“You... you own Hayes Holdings?” Ethan choked out, his knees buckling slightly. He had to grip the edge of the table to keep from falling.
“I don’t just own Hayes Holdings,” Claire said, her eyes flashing with ice. “I own eighty-four percent of the voting shares of Whitmore Construction. Your father left you a bankrupt shell. I am the one who kept the lights on. I am the one who signed your paychecks. And as of nine o’clock this morning, I am calling in every single note.”
