Chapter 6 - The Proxy
Margaret did not deny it.
That frightened Daniel more than denial would have.
They met in her penthouse library that evening.
Daniel placed the copy of the disputed proxy document on the table.
“Did you sign my name?”
Margaret stared at it.
“No.”
“Did you use it knowing I hadn’t signed?”
A long pause.
“Yes.”
Daniel looked away.
“Why?”
“It was eleven years ago.”
“That is not an answer.”
“You were twenty-three.”
“I was legally an adult.”
“Your father had just died.”
“So?”
“The company was unstable. Two directors wanted to sell the hotel division.”
“And?”
“You owned enough voting shares to stop them.”
Daniel understood.
“You used my vote.”
“Yes.”
“Without asking.”
“You were barely functioning.”
His grief after Robert’s sudden heart attack had been severe.
Daniel remembered months of waking at noon.
Drinking too much.
Ignoring company calls.
Margaret had run everything.
He had been grateful.
Apparently gratitude had been built on missing information.
“You could have asked.”
“You would have said you didn’t care.”
“That was my choice.”
“The sale would have destroyed what your father built.”
“Maybe.”
Margaret’s voice sharpened.
“Not maybe.”
Daniel stared.
“Do you hear yourself?”
She stopped.
“You believe the outcome justified using my name.”
“I saved the company.”
“That’s exactly what Vanessa says she was trying to do.”
Margaret’s face changed.
“Do not compare me to her.”
“Why?”
“She was stealing from you.”
“She planned to pressure me into signing.”
“She forged documents.”
“Thomas forged them.”
“With her cooperation.”
“Yes.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“And you knowingly used a false proxy to control my shares.”
Margaret’s lips tightened.
“One time.”
“So quantity changes principle?”
“You were my son.”
“And that gave you more authority over me?”
“I was your mother.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“That is not different.”
Margaret looked wounded.
He hated hurting her.
But hurt was not the same as harm.
Another distinction he was learning.
“Did Thomas know?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He prepared the board package.”
“He told you the proxy was invalid?”
“He said there was a problem with execution.”
“And you told him?”
“To use it.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Jesus.”
Margaret continued quickly.
“I later obtained proper ratification.”
“From me?”
“Yes.”
“Did you tell me what I was ratifying?”
“You signed board confirmations.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Margaret said nothing.
Daniel looked toward the windows.
Manhattan glowed below them.
Everything about his family appeared solid from a distance.
Hotels.
Restaurants.
Real estate.
Foundation galas.
His father’s name on buildings.
Close up, signatures had been moved like chess pieces.
“What did Thomas want?” Daniel asked.
“Over the years?”
“Yes.”
Margaret understood.
“Protection.”
“From what?”
“Conflicts. Side consulting. Expenses.”
“You covered for him.”
“Occasionally.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know.”
“You always know.”
Margaret looked away.
That was answer enough.
Daniel called Priya.
“Come tomorrow. Full review of Thomas.”
Margaret interrupted.
“Daniel.”
He ended the call.
“What?”
“If you expose everything Thomas has done, he will expose everything I did.”
Daniel stared.
“That sounds like a reason to expose both.”
Margaret looked at him as though he had spoken another language.
“You would damage your father’s company to make a moral point?”
“There it is again.”
“What?”
“The company is not a person.”
“It supports thousands of people.”
“Then those people deserve governance that doesn’t depend on secrets.”
Margaret stood.
“You think truth always helps?”
“No.”
Daniel looked toward the proxy.
“But lies are already hurting us.”
He walked to the door.
Margaret spoke behind him.
“Vanessa knew.”
Daniel stopped.
“Knew what?”
“About the proxy.”
“Yes.”
“She knew before you married.”
“Yes.”
“And she used it to keep me silent.”
“Yes.”
“Does that not matter to you?”
“Of course it matters.”
“Then why are you angry with me?”
Daniel turned.
“Because both things can matter.”
Margaret stared.
Daniel continued.
“Vanessa blackmailed you.”
Margaret’s face hardened.
“She threatened disclosure.”
“That’s blackmail in ordinary language, whether or not a prosecutor would call it that.”
Margaret said nothing.
“And you hid your own misconduct because you were afraid.”
Daniel pointed toward the table.
“You both treated my life like something you could negotiate around.”
Margaret’s voice cracked.
“I was trying to keep you from making a mistake.”
“Which mistake?”
“Marrying her.”
Daniel laughed once.
“Maybe I was.”
Margaret’s eyes filled.
“But you were so busy controlling the outcome that you never trusted me with the information needed to choose.”
That landed.
Margaret sat.
For the first time she looked sixty-one rather than indestructible.
“I didn’t know how to tell you.”
“Yes, you did.”
Daniel’s voice softened.
“You just didn’t know how to tell me without controlling what I did afterward.”
Margaret wiped her eyes.
Daniel hated leaving her like that.
But he left.
Outside, his phone rang.
Thomas Avery.
Daniel stared at the name.
He answered.
“Thomas.”
“Daniel, we should meet before people who don’t understand the company create damage they can’t reverse.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“You mean Priya?”
“I mean outsiders.”
“Why did you forge my signature?”
Silence.
Then:
“I didn’t.”
“Vanessa says you did.”
“She’s protecting herself.”
“Did you advise Vale House?”
Another pause.
“Yes.”
“Without disclosure.”
“It was private consulting.”
“Did you use my invalid proxy eleven years ago?”
Thomas’s breathing changed.
Daniel knew he had him.
“Your mother instructed me.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“Yes.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
There it was.
Thomas continued.
“Daniel, your family has always survived because people were willing to solve problems quietly.”
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“You?”
“Yes.”
“And Vanessa?”
Silence.
Thomas finally said:
“She learned quickly.”
Daniel felt cold.
“What does that mean?”
Thomas lowered his voice.
“It means the envelope in that bouquet was not the first forged document connected to your wedding.”
Daniel gripped the phone.
“What else is there?”
Thomas answered:
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“Ask your mother about the prenup.”
Then he hung up.
