The Tutor and the Senator's Widow novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: Public Comeuppance

The examiner let the lobby settle before he spoke again.

He had come out of the conference room to stand at the edge of the forest mural, with the laptop under his arm and his lanyard crooked.

Two hundred retirees looked up at him.

"I'll be brief," he said. "I'm ordering the following, effective now."

Behind him the doors opened, and Lowell and Beau came out with their lawyers, because there was nowhere else to go.

"Mr. Lowell Fitzhugh and Mr. Beau Fitzhugh are removed as trustees of this plan. An independent fiduciary will take control of the plan's assets tomorrow morning at nine."

A sound went through the chairs, something between a gasp and a sigh.

"The state is referring the one hundred and thirty promissory notes to the Attorney General, along with the proxy forms and the April twenty-eighth stamp. The company's loans are frozen, and a lien is placed on Fitzhugh Lumber's land and buildings."

"You can't do that," Lowell said.

"I just did."

"The mill employs four hundred people."

"Then those four hundred are about to learn what the pension fund of their neighbors was spent on." The examiner took a step toward him.

"Mr. Fitzhugh, the checks will be paid. Not by you. By the plan's remaining assets and, for the shortfall, by a pledge of land that your stepmother made to the retirees of her own free will."

Lowell turned his head and looked at Eleanor.

It was the first time I had ever seen him look at her without a plan on his face.

"You gave them the land," he said.

"I did."

"You had no obligation."

"I had your father's letter," Eleanor said. "I read it all the way to the end. You didn't."

← Chapter 21 · All chapters · Chapter 23 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend