Chapter 5 - The Mother’s Ultimatum
By noon, my phone was ringing incessantly. When I refused to answer calls from Dale or Trent, Trent’s mother, Evelyn, decided to ambush me in person.
I was crossing the lobby of my private equity firm after lunch when Evelyn stepped out from behind a decorative marble pillar. She looked disheveled, her dyed blonde hair wind-blown and her makeup smudged from crying or rage—or both.
"Laurel!" she shrieked, drawing the attention of half a dozen executives and security personnel.
My security escort immediately stepped between us, but I raised a hand, signaling them to hold. "Evelyn. This is a private corporate building. You can't be here."
"How dare you do this to my family!" Evelyn spat, her voice trembling with hysteria. "You kicked us out of the penthouse in the middle of the night! We had to check into a hotel like common vagrants! Dale’s blood pressure is through the roof!"
"You had thirty minutes to leave a home you never contributed a dollar toward," I replied smoothly, keeping my voice level. "And if Dale's blood pressure is high, perhaps he shouldn't have cheered when his son introduced his mistress at my dining table."
"She is just a girl!" Evelyn cried, shamelessly shifting tactics. "Trent made a mistake! Men make mistakes, Laurel! You have been married for seven years. A good wife forgives! You are destroying his career over pride!"
"He forged my signature on a four-million-dollar collateral note, Evelyn. That isn't a mistake. That's a felony."
Evelyn froze. For all her shrill entitlement, she knew what prison meant. Her eyes darted around the grand marble lobby, suddenly acutely aware of the security guards watching her every move.
"He... he was going to pay it back," she stammered, her voice dropping into a desperate plea. "He just needed working capital. You're sitting on millions, Laurel! You have trusts, properties, investments! What is a few million to you? You're being cruel!"
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"Every dollar I have was earned through sixty-hour work weeks and calculated risk," I said, stepping closer until she had to tilt her head up to look at me. "Your son didn't want a partner. He wanted a sponsor who wouldn't notice him stealing from the safe. Tell Trent that if he ever contacts me directly again, the next envelope he receives won't be from my divorce lawyer. It will be from the District Attorney."
I turned to my head of security. "Escort this woman out. If she steps onto company property again, press full trespassing charges."
