Chapter 6 - The Flight to Atlanta
I didn't sleep.
At five in the morning, I booked the first flight to Atlanta.
Daniel wanted to come.
I told him no.
“Athena—”
“This is my company.”
“Our company.”
I looked at him.
He corrected himself.
“Your company.”
That was the first time I had ever heard him say it.
I left anyway.
Francis joined me at the airport.
She had two laptops, three legal pads, and the expression of a woman personally offended by fraud.
“Brad's flight lands twenty minutes before ours,” she said.
“Can we stop him from contacting Howerin?”
“No.”
“Can we stop Howerin from believing him?”
“That depends on what he's carrying.”
We knew Brad had downloaded confidential documents.
What we didn't know was whether he'd altered them.
By the time our plane landed, Marcus Vale had already called me twice.
I phoned him from the jet bridge.
“Athena.”
“Marcus, don't open anything Brad Cole sends you.”
Silence.
“That's a strangely specific warning.”
“He's headed to Atlanta.”
“I know.”
My stomach dropped.
“You know?”
“He emailed our CEO at 6:03 this morning.”
“What did he say?”
Marcus hesitated.
“That Keystone's ownership structure is under legal dispute.”
I stopped walking.
Francis nearly collided with me.
“He said what?”
“He claims Daniel Marsh is challenging your controlling interest.”
I looked at Francis.
Her eyebrows rose.
Marcus continued.
“He also claims you've misrepresented Keystone's financial stability.”
“Neither is true.”
“I suspected that.”
“Why?”
“Because he attached documents.”
My heart pounded.
“And?”
“They look wrong.”
Relief hit me so hard my knees weakened.
“How?”
“One document shows Daniel owning fifty-one percent. But the signature block is dated four years ago.”
“Yes?”
“I met you five years ago at the Nashville hospitality conference.”
I remembered.
Marcus smiled through the phone.
“You gave me a Keystone business card. It said Founder and Managing Member.”
I closed my eyes.
Sometimes truth survived because of tiny things.
Old business cards.
Forgotten emails.
People who remembered.
“Marcus, give me thirty minutes.”
“Howerin will hear both sides.”
Francis and I went directly to Howerin headquarters.
Brad was already there.
He sat in a conference room wearing a gray suit and an expression of manufactured concern.
When I entered, he smiled.
“Athena.”
“Brad.”
Francis sat beside me.
Across the table were Marcus, Howerin's general counsel, and CEO Caroline Howerin.
Caroline was seventy-two and had spent forty years turning three roadside hotels into an international hospitality group.
She didn't waste time.
“Mr. Cole says Keystone is unstable.”
“It experienced an attempted unauthorized transfer last night,” I said.
Brad leaned forward.
“Which proves my point.”
I looked at him.
“The destination account belongs to you.”
Caroline's gaze snapped toward Brad.
He recovered quickly.
“It was a planned restructuring.”
“Approved by whom?” Francis asked.
“Daniel.”
I opened the navy folder.
“No.”
I placed Keystone's operating agreement on the table.
Then annual acknowledgments.
Capital records.
Tax filings.
Banking resolutions.
Every document supported the same fact.
I owned eighty-two percent.
Daniel owned eighteen.
Brad owned nothing.
Caroline read silently.
Brad's expression tightened.
Then he produced his own document.
A signed membership amendment.
Daniel's signature.
Fifty-one percent to Daniel.
Forty-nine to me.
My stomach dropped.
The signature looked real.
Francis took the document.
Studied it.
Then smiled.
Brad noticed.
“What?”
Francis turned the page around.
“This amendment references Section 11.4.”
Brad said nothing.
“Keystone has no Section 11.4.”
Silence.
Francis continued.
“You copied language from an older template.”
Brad's face hardened.
“And Daniel's signature?”
“Maybe real. Maybe reproduced. Doesn't matter.”
“Why?”
“Because any ownership amendment requires Athena's signature.”
She tapped the page.
“And Athena didn't sign.”
Brad leaned back.
Caroline looked disgusted.
But Brad wasn't finished.
He reached into his briefcase.
“There are other issues.”
He produced financial statements.
“Keystone has hidden liabilities.”
I recognized the numbers.
Old projections.
Incomplete.
He had taken internal planning documents and presented them as final statements.
I explained each one.
Caroline listened.
Then asked Brad one question.
“Why are you doing this?”
He looked at me.
For a second, the polished mask disappeared.
“Because she shouldn't control everything.”
There it was.
Not business.
Resentment.
Caroline closed the folder.
“This meeting is over.”
Brad stood.
“You're making a mistake.”
“No,” Caroline said.
“I think the Marsh family has made several.”
He left.
I thought we'd won.
Then Marcus's phone buzzed.
His expression changed.
He turned the screen toward Caroline.
A reporter had just published an article online.
Leadership Crisis Threatens Howerin Flagship Partnership.
And the source quoted throughout the article was anonymous.
But the description was unmistakable.
“Someone close to Keystone's executive team.”
Brad had never planned to win inside that conference room.
May you like
He had planned to make sure everyone lost outside it.
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