Schemes Come to Naught novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: Her Price

I was still sitting on the bank bench with the settlement in my hand when my phone started to buzz.

It buzzed again and again.

Ben, Ben, Ben, and then a number from the office.

"Don't answer yet," Ines said.

"Why?"

"Because whatever it is, you'll say the wrong thing to it."

I answered anyway.

"Dex." Ben's voice was flat. "Corwin Clinic Software just put out a release. It says they have signed an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Lowell Systems. It says the agreement was reached with the trustee of your family trust."

I closed my eyes.

"It went out at nine. Every client has it. Half the staff has it. You need to be here."

Ines drove me in her green Honda, because mine was still at the townhouse.

Neither of us spoke.

At the office, the lobby was full.

Engineers, support, sales, the two receptionists.

Ninety people stood with their phones in their hands, and every one of them turned when I came through the doors.

Nobody said a word.

I had hired most of them myself.

Ben stood on the second step of the main staircase with his sleeves rolled up.

"Tell them," he said.

"Ben..."

"You told them Ines was restructured. Tell them this."

I walked to the foot of the stairs.

I had prepared nothing, and for once it was the right preparation.

"The release is true," I said. "I moved my shares into a trust in October. The person I made trustee has gone, and so has the money. I don't control the fifty-two percent anymore. I don't know yet who does."

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