Samuel controls the properties.”
I turned to the next section.
“The house is owned by Sterling Peak.”
Cynthia’s laugh disappeared.
I continued.
“The office building is owned by Sterling Peak.
The vehicles leased for the business are held by Sterling Peak.
The development rights Samuel planned to present tonight were purchased with Sterling Peak funds.”
Patterson finally looked at Samuel.
“What, exactly, were you offering me in exchange for my investment?”
Samuel’s mouth opened, but no answer came.
Cynthia rushed to the table and grabbed the management agreement.
She flipped through it as though the correct arrangement might appear if she turned the pages fast enough.
“This can’t be legal,” she said.
“Samuel has worked there for years.”
“He was paid a salary,” I replied.
“He received bonuses.
He had authority to manage daily operations.
He did not have authority to sell ownership he never possessed.”
Cynthia slapped the papers back onto the table.
“This is what you do, isn’t it? You hold money over everyone’s head and wait for a chance to humiliate us.”
I looked at the gravy drying on my blouse.
“No, Cynthia.
Humiliation is inviting a woman into a house she paid for, ordering her around like a servant and spitting food into her face while her son watches.”
Patterson’s wife stared at her daughter.
“You spat at her?”
Cynthia’s cheeks reddened.
“She provoked me.”
“How?”
“The gravy was terrible.”
Even Samuel flinched at that answer.
Patterson placed the wine bottle on a side table with deliberate care.
“You assaulted her because you disliked gravy?”
“It wasn’t an assault.
It was just—” Cynthia looked around for support.
“It was a reaction.
She’s twisting everything.”
“I watched you do it,” Samuel said quietly.
Cynthia turned on him.
“And you said nothing.”
He looked toward me.
The shame on his face might once have moved me.
That night it only confirmed what I already knew.
Samuel regretted the consequences, not the cruelty that caused them.
Patterson stepped closer to the table.
“I want the truth about the investment proposal.
All of it.”
I removed a second packet.
Three weeks earlier, Sterling Peak’s accountant had alerted me that Samuel was circulating projections based on properties the company did not own.
Two developments listed in his presentation were still under negotiation.
A third had been rejected by the zoning board.
Yet Samuel’s proposal described all three as secured assets.
I had hoped he would correct the material before the dinner.
Instead, that afternoon, I found a printed copy beside his office briefcase.
I slid it toward Patterson.
“These are the projections Samuel intended to show you.”
