“That was wrong.”
“It became wrong when the folder opened?”
He had no answer.
Cynthia grabbed his arm.
“Stop apologizing.
She planned this.
Look at her.
She came prepared with documents.”
“Yes,” I said.
“I came prepared because I finally understood that neither of you respected words without consequences.”
I removed a single-page resolution from the back of the folder.
Samuel recognized it immediately.
“Mom, don’t.”
Cynthia looked between us.
“Don’t what?”
“As sole voting member of Sterling Peak Holdings,” I said, “I have the authority to remove the manager for cause.”
Patterson remained silent, watching Samuel.
My son stepped toward me.
“You can’t fire me in front of everyone.”
“I could have fired you when the accountant reported the misleading projections.
I could have done it when you attempted to pledge company assets without authorization.
I waited because I wanted to believe you would correct yourself.”
“I can fix this.”
“You had every opportunity.”
Cynthia snatched the resolution before I could place it down.
“This says effective immediately.”
“Yes.”
Her eyes moved rapidly across the page.
Then she found the next clause.
“And we have to leave the house?”
Samuel looked at me in alarm.
I answered carefully.
“The house has always belonged to the company.
Your occupancy was tied to Samuel’s employment agreement.
I am giving you thirty days to relocate, which is more notice than the agreement requires.”
Cynthia’s voice rose.
“You are throwing your own son into the street because I criticized your cooking?”
“No.
I am removing a manager who misrepresented corporate assets and attempted to secure an investment without authority.
I am ending your use of a company residence after years of documented expenses the business should never have carried.
Spitting in my face merely ended my willingness to keep protecting you from the truth.”
Patterson took the investment proposal and tore it once down the middle.
The sound was quieter than the window breaking, but it struck Samuel harder.
“There will be no investment,” Patterson said.
Cynthia stared at him.
“You cannot be serious.”
“I am completely serious.”
“You invested in Grant’s company after he lost money for two years.”
“Grant disclosed his losses.
Samuel concealed ownership and offered security he did not control.”
“He’s your son-in-law.”
“That increases the obligation to be honest.
It does not reduce it.”
Cynthia’s mother took off her coat and placed it over a chair.
She had barely spoken, but now she approached me with a clean handkerchief.
“You still have gravy near your collar,” she said softly.
