Chapter 10 - the company began to collapse)
Three days later, Carter Development missed payroll.
Vivian learned at 8:03 a.m.
Samantha, the office manager, called her directly.
"I'm sorry to bother you."
"What's wrong?"
"The payroll transfer bounced."
Vivian sat up.
"How many employees?"
"Fourteen."
"How much?"
"Just under thirty-two thousand."
Vivian closed her eyes.
This was what she had feared.
Julian's selfishness was no longer harming only them.
Fourteen people had rent.
Mortgages.
Children.
Bills.
"Has Julian responded?"
"He said the bank made an error."
"Did they?"
"I don't think so."
Vivian opened Carter Development's recent balances.
The operating account was almost empty.
She called Rachel.
Within an hour, they understood why.
Julian had transferred another twenty-four thousand dollars.
Not to Cedar Ridge.
To a cashier's check.
Payee unknown.
"He is draining it," Rachel said.
Vivian's anger returned.
"We need enforcement."
"We're filing today."
"Employees come first."
Rachel looked at her through the video call.
"You aren't responsible for payroll."
"I know."
"But?"
"But if we enforce blindly and the company freezes, they suffer."
Rachel nodded.
"What do you want?"
"A controlled solution."
Vivian spent the next four hours doing what she did professionally.
She separated Julian from the business in her mind.
The company had active projects.
Receivables.
Equipment.
Clients.
Employees.
It was not worthless.
It was simply badly managed.
At noon, Vivian proposed a temporary forbearance.
Carter Strategic Holdings would delay full enforcement if Carter Development agreed to independent financial oversight, restricted transfers, and emergency payroll funding from receivables.
Julian refused immediately.
His email contained one sentence.
You will not take control of my company.
Vivian replied.
Then pay your employees.
At 2:16 p.m., three employees resigned.
By four, one client suspended a project.
At six, Samantha called again.
"Julian left."
"What do you mean?"
"He walked out."
"Where did he go?"
"I don't know."
Vivian stared at the wall.
"Are employees still there?"
"Some."
"Tell them payroll is being addressed."
"By who?"
Vivian hesitated.
"Me."
Rachel objected.
"You do not personally inject funds."
"I'm not."
"Then how?"
"Advance receivables."
Rachel considered.
"Possible."
"We secure them."
"Possible."
"Do it."
By the next morning, payroll cleared.
Julian called Vivian seventeen times.
She did not answer.
Then Beatrice called.
Vivian ignored that too.
Richard sent a message.
Thank you for helping the employees.
Vivian read it.
She did not respond.
At 11:30, Samantha arrived at Vivian's office with a box.
"I think you should see this."
Inside were company records.
Invoices.
Printouts.
A second phone.
Vivian looked at it.
"Whose?"
"Julian's."
"He left it?"
"In his desk."
Vivian did not touch it.
"Give it to Rachel."
Samantha nodded.
She looked exhausted.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
"Are you taking the company?"
Vivian studied her.
"Do you want me to?"
Samantha laughed nervously.
"I want someone to stop whatever is happening."
Vivian understood.
"How long has it been bad?"
"Longer than you know."
"Tell me."
Samantha sat.
Julian had been missing meetings.
Making promises without checking budgets.
Using company vehicles personally.
Approving expenses that made no sense.
A luxury dinner.
Hotel charges.
Jewelry.
Vivian stopped her.
"Jewelry?"
Samantha nodded.
"Twenty-seven hundred dollars. Categorized as client relations."
Vivian thought of Elena.
"Anything else?"
"There's a contractor."
"Who?"
"Michael Trent."
Vivian knew the name.
He worked on one of Carter Development's residential projects.
"What about him?"
"He threatened to sue."
"Why?"
"Julian owes him eighty-three thousand dollars."
Vivian stared.
That debt was not on the company's internal statements.
"Since when?"
"Three months."
"Why didn't I see it?"
"Julian told accounting to categorize the amount as disputed."
Vivian leaned back.
The one hundred fifty thousand she knew about was not the whole problem.
There were hidden liabilities.
Rachel entered twenty minutes later.
She had looked at the second phone but had not bypassed security.
"It's company property," Samantha explained. "We have the administrative unlock record."
Rachel still proceeded carefully.
With authorization from the company's current records custodian and within the legal process, they accessed the business communications.
There were hundreds.
One thread changed everything.
Julian had been negotiating to sell a major company asset.
A parcel of undeveloped land.
The land had an estimated value of four hundred thousand dollars.
Julian planned to sell it for two hundred sixty thousand to a newly formed entity.
Vivian searched the entity name.
Hawthorne Residential Partners.
Owner.
Michael Brooks.
Elena's brother.
Vivian stared at the screen.
Rachel whispered, "Oh."
The plan became visible.
Julian was not only moving cash.
He was attempting to transfer valuable collateral to someone connected to his mistress at a discount.
After the sale, Carter Development would have far fewer assets.
Cedar Ridge would hold cash.
Elena's family would own the land.
And Vivian's debt would be backed by a hollowed company.
"Fraudulent transfer," Rachel said.
"Attempted."
"If we stop it."
Vivian looked at the closing date.
Tomorrow.
"We stop it."
By evening, an emergency filing was prepared.
At 9:42 p.m., Julian finally answered his attorney.
At 10:11, the land sale was suspended.
At 10:36, Julian sent Vivian a voice message.
His voice shook with fury.
"You wanted my company? Fine. Take it. But when this destroys everyone working there, remember you did that."
Vivian listened twice.
Then deleted nothing.
She saved the recording.
Because Julian still did not understand.
May you like
Vivian was not destroying the company.
She was trying to save it from him.
