Chapter 7 - Cade Gave Back the Company
Mercer Development’s board expected Cade to fight.
He did not.
He walked into the meeting carrying Caroline’s original documents.
“My mother owned fifty-one percent.”
The chairman frowned.
“Those documents are decades old.”
“They’re valid.”
“Our attorneys disagree.”
“Mine don’t.”
Serena sat beside him.
Reporters filled the lobby.
Federal observers attended.
Cade continued.
“My father forged Serena’s relinquishment.”
The room erupted.
“And therefore,” Cade said, “half the controlling interest I have exercised belongs to my sister.”
Serena looked at him.
She already knew.
Still, hearing him say it publicly mattered.
The board chairman whispered:
“You realize what this will do to valuation.”
“Yes.”
“You could lose control.”
“Yes.”
“You may lose everything.”
Cade thought of two hungry girls selling a painting.
“Good.”
The company entered restructuring.
Serena became one of its largest shareholders overnight.
Her daughters went from nearly starving to possessing generational wealth.
Serena hated it.
“I don't want this.”
Cade smiled.
“I recognize the feeling.”
“What am I supposed to do with hundreds of millions?”
“Apparently Mara wants fries.”
Serena laughed.
Then cried.
They created trusts.
Employee restitution funds.
Compensation for businesses harmed by Malcolm and Richard.
Public disclosure.
Mercer stock collapsed.
Then slowly recovered.
Cade resigned as CEO.
The press asked why.
“Because leadership inherited through deception deserves review.”
A journalist shouted:
“Are you admitting guilt?”
“I’m admitting responsibility.”
Different.
Important.
Ethan cooperated with federal authorities.
He faced charges.
His sentence would likely be reduced.
Serena visited him.
Not romantically.
Not yet.
He apologized without excuses.
She listened.
That was all.
Cade moved Serena and the girls into a townhouse near his estate.
Not his mansion.
She refused.
“I need my own front door.”
He understood.
Lena began private school.
Hated it.
Returned to public school.
Cade secretly loved that.
Mara started piano lessons.
Terrible.
Persistent.
Cade attended every recital.
One afternoon, Lena asked:
“Why don't you have kids?”
Cade paused.
“I never married.”
“Why?”
“I was busy.”
“That’s dumb.”
“Apparently.”
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
“No.”
“Also dumb.”
Children.
Then someone entered the restaurant where they were eating.
A woman.
Late thirties.
Dark red hair.
Cade stood.
“Claire.”
Serena looked between them.
“Who?”
Claire Donovan.
Federal prosecutor.
And Cade’s former fiancée.
They had been engaged twelve years earlier.
She ended it because Cade refused to separate himself from his father’s network.
“You always choose the family business,” she told him.
He had replied:
“The business is family.”
He had been wrong.
Claire approached.
“I heard you resigned.”
“Yes.”
“Hell froze.”
“Chicago. Close enough.”
She smiled.
Serena noticed immediately.
“So this is Claire.”
Cade glared.
“What?”
“You kept her photo.”
Cade nearly choked.
Claire smiled wider.
Lena whispered to Mara:
“Uncle Cade has a girlfriend.”
“I do not.”
May you like
“Yet,” Serena said.
For the first time, Cade’s future contained something besides repair.
