Chapter 6 - The Offer
Daniel’s first settlement offer arrived Friday morning.
Tanya read it silently.
Then she pushed it across the desk.
The house would be sold.
We would divide most personal assets.
I would receive two hundred fifty thousand dollars for my company interest.
Daniel would keep full ownership and control of the business.
Each side would waive claims concerning marital misconduct.
There was also a confidentiality provision.
A very broad one.
I read the number again.
Two hundred fifty thousand.
He had increased his August plan by fifty thousand dollars.
“How generous.”
Tanya almost smiled.
“There’s more.”
She pointed to paragraph twelve.
Daniel wanted me to provide thirty days of transition assistance to the company.
Unpaid.
I stared at her.
“He wants me to train Natalie.”
“That section doesn’t identify her.”
“It doesn’t have to.”
I leaned back.
For seventeen years, I had worked behind Daniel.
Now he wanted to buy my ownership at a fraction of its possible value, silence me about his financial behavior, and require me to teach my replacement how to run the systems I built.
I started laughing.
Tanya watched carefully.
“Are you all right?”
“No.”
I kept laughing.
“But this is the first funny thing Daniel has done in years.”
We rejected the offer before lunch.
At one thirty, Daniel called me from a different number.
I almost did not answer.
Then I remembered Tanya’s advice.
If he calls, you can listen.
Do not negotiate.
Do not threaten.
Do not discuss documents.
Let him talk.
So I answered.
“Hello.”
Daniel sounded exhausted.
“Claire.”
I said nothing.
“I assume you saw the proposal.”
“Yes.”
“You rejected it pretty fast.”
“Yes.”
“Can you say something besides yes?”
“Yes.”
He exhaled sharply.
“This is exactly what I meant about being difficult.”
There it was.
The familiar move.
Turn my resistance into the problem.
I looked through the hotel window at the parking lot below.
“What do you want, Daniel?”
“I want this resolved.”
“So do I.”
“Then why are you turning it into a war?”
“You asked for a divorce.”
“I did not ask you to attack the company.”
“I own part of the company.”
“You never cared about ownership.”
That sentence stopped me.
“What?”
“You always said we were a team.”
“We were.”
“Then why are you suddenly acting like twenty-eight percent matters?”
I closed my eyes.
“Because you suddenly started acting like I was zero percent.”
Daniel went silent.
For once, he had no immediate answer.
Finally he said, “Natalie thinks we can increase the value dramatically if we restructure.”
“Then buying me out should be expensive.”
“Claire.”
“What?”
“This is not you.”
I almost whispered my answer.
“No, Daniel.”
“It is.”
He breathed into the phone.
“You’re angry.”
“Yes.”
“You’re letting Tanya manipulate you.”
“No.”
“You’re trying to punish me because I fell in love with someone else.”
The words landed differently now.
Days earlier, they would have cut me open.
Now they sounded like camouflage.
“You didn’t just fall in love with someone else.”
“What does that mean?”
“You planned my exit.”
Silence.
Not denial.
Silence.
I looked at the wall.
“You had the company valued in August.”
“Who told you that?”
Again, not denial.
“Goodbye, Daniel.”
“Claire, wait.”
I ended the call.
Three minutes later, Tanya called.
“Did you discuss the valuation with him?”
“I mentioned that I knew.”
“That’s fine.”
“He sounded afraid.”
“He should be concerned.”
“Why?”
Tanya paused.
“Because Daniel’s attorney just sent us a revised financial disclosure.”
“And?”
“It doesn’t match the records Martin gave us.”
“How badly?”
“Badly enough that I’m requesting a forensic accountant.”
I looked at the blue folder on the hotel desk.
For years, numbers had been the safest part of my life.
Numbers did not complain.
Numbers did not flirt.
Numbers did not tell you they loved you and then spend Thanksgiving introducing your replacement.
May you like
Numbers simply revealed what happened.
And Daniel had left numbers everywhere.
