The Home She Built With Someone Else novel · Chapter 16 of 24
Chapter 16: The Sale
At noon the Tornquist conference room had ten people in it and one empty chair, and Nigel took the empty chair.
He had flown all night.
His suit was the same navy one, and he had not shaved, and he sat down without being asked.
Across from him sat two investors from Hearthline's lead fund and their lawyer, with a thin folder between them.
Gus sat at the middle with a fountain pen.
Margot's father sat at the end and said nothing, which was his way of owning the room.
Justine sat next to me.
She had not slept either, and she kept her hands under the table.
Margot stood by the window, because Gus had asked her to be present and not to talk.
"We'll keep this short," Gus said. "Tornquist Group is buying Hearthline. The company, the app, the debts and the guarantee. Four hundred thousand dollars."
One of the investors laughed once, without any humor.
"We put four million into it."
"And you'll never see it from Ms. Corliss," Gus said. "She has a box and a plant. You'll see four hundred thousand from us tomorrow, or a lawsuit against a woman with no money, and a very public one against the man who told her where to sign."
The investor looked at Nigel.
"Nigel owns thirty percent," the lawyer said. "A sale needs his signature."
"I'm not signing," Nigel said.
"Then here's why you will," Gus said.
He opened a folder and laid out three sheets of paper side by side.
The first was a printout of two text messages.
Rename the shared folder to mine. Nate won't check.
Just sign where the flags are. Don't read it.
Nigel looked at them and his jaw went tight.
"Those were private."
"They're Ms. Corliss's phone, and she handed them over freely," Gus said. "The lawyers at this table have read them. So has the fund's insurer."
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