Chapter 5 - Allison’s Exit Strategy
By lunchtime, the fallout inside Daniel’s personal circle had turned cannibalistic. While I sat in the executive boardroom listening to Mercer Group’s remaining directors unanimously approve my debt-to-equity conversion plan, Daniel was dealing with a mutiny of his own in the lobby of an upscale hotel across town.
Sarah Lin had sent me a security update from our private investigator, complete with timestamps and audio transcripts from the hotel lounge where Daniel, Vivian, and Allison had retreated after being ejected from the corporate plaza.
Allison wasn't playing the supportive, affectionate partner anymore. The sweet, breathless young woman who had sent suggestive late-night text messages to my husband while sitting across from me at annual corporate galas had vanished. In her place was an ambitious climber realizing her ladder had just snapped in half.
""What do you mean your accounts are frozen?"" Allison’s sharp voice rang across their table, according to the investigator’s notes. She was glaring at Daniel, who sat slumped over a double espresso with red-rimmed eyes.
""The bank issued a temporary hold on all personal liquid accounts tied to Mercer Group stock collateral,"" Daniel stammered, rubbing his throbbing temples. ""It’s just an administrative freeze until the emergency hearing next Tuesday. Allison, please, calm down. We just need to stay in this hotel suite for a week or two until my legal team resolves the injunction.""
""A week or two?"" Allison sneered, leaning across the table. ""Daniel, they announced on Bloomberg twenty minutes ago that the board is filing a forty-million-dollar restitution claim against you personally! The state prosecutor is impaneling a grand jury! Do you know what that means for my consulting firm? My reputation is completely ruined!""
Vivian, who was nursing an iced martini with trembling hands, snapped, ""Mind your tone, young lady! You were happy enough to spend Daniel’s money when he bought you that convertible and paid for your sister’s apartment lease! You owe this family your loyalty!""
Allison let out a harsh, mocking laugh that caused other patrons in the lounge to turn their heads. ""Loyalty? To what, Vivian? To a broke ex-executive facing a prison sentence? I didn't sign up to play nursemaid to a disgraced trust-fund baby living on credit cards! That consulting contract was for professional services. If your son was using dirty money to pay my invoices, that is his problem, not mine!""
""You ungrateful little tramp!"" Vivian gasped, slamming her glass down onto the table. ""You seduced my son and ruined his marriage!""
""He didn't need much seducing,"" Allison retorted cold-bloodedly, standing up and slinging her designer bag over her shoulder. ""And for the record, Daniel told me Rebecca was a boring, penniless housewife who couldn't survive without him. Turns out Rebecca owned the entire empire while Daniel was playing make-believe CEO. If anyone lied here, it was him.""
Daniel looked up, his voice cracking with pathetic desperation. ""Allison, wait! Where are you going? You promised we’d get through this together!""
""I’m going to meet my own criminal defense attorney,"" Allison said flatly. ""And if the prosecutors offer me a non-prosecution agreement in exchange for testimony regarding who authorized those consulting invoices, I am taking it in a heartbeat. Don't call me again, Daniel.""
She turned on her heel and strutted out of the hotel lobby, leaving Daniel staring blankly at the empty chair.
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Vivian turned to her son, her face twisted with a mixture of terror and disgust. ""Daniel... what did she mean by restitution claim? What did she mean by prison? Where is our trust money?""
Daniel finally broke. He buried his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking as the reality of his total ruin crashed over him. There was no secret trust fund. There was no offshore backup account. Every luxury they had flaunted, every country club membership, every designer dress Vivian wore had been funded by debts backed by assets that now belonged entirely to me.
