Chapter 6: The Offer
"How did you get this number?" I asked.
"The same way I get most things," Thomas said.
"Efficiently."
I put the call on speaker.
Daniel was already texting someone — his contact at the AG's office, I assumed.
Grace had her pen out.
"I understand you've had quite a morning," Thomas said.
"The FDA filing.
The visit to the Whitmore estate.
The file Richard kept.
You've been thorough.
I respect that."
"What do you want?"
"The same thing I've wanted for thirty years.
What your father took when he left." His voice didn't change.
No heat in it.
No urgency.
"I'm prepared to offer you eight million dollars for the Vale Cold Chain shares.
That is three times their current assessed value.
You would walk away from a legal situation that is about to become very complicated, with enough money to live extremely well, and no further connection to any of this."
"And if I say no?"
"Then things become more difficult for everyone." A pause.
"I've reviewed the prenuptial agreement you signed with Grant.
The @buse clause your attorney inserted is clever.
But clauses require courts, and courts require time, and in that time a great many things can happen.
Documents can be challenged.
Witnesses can become unavailable.
A young woman from Ohio with no family connections and a newly filed complaint against one of New York's most established medical families can find herself very alone in a very expensive legal process."
Daniel's jaw tightened.
He kept writing.
"You're threatening me," I said.
"I'm describing reality," Thomas said.
"There's a difference.
I have no interest in harming you, Ms.
Vale.
I have significant interest in those shares.
The simplest outcome for both of us is a clean transaction."
"The same way it was a clean transaction when you sent Grant to marry me?"
Silence.
Then: "Grant made his own choices."
"After you structured the incentives."
"People respond to incentives.
That's not manipulation.
That's human nature." He sounded almost bored.
"Eight million dollars, Ms.
Vale.
Wired to any account you designate within forty-eight hours of signing.
You have until tomorrow morning to decide."
"And the Whitmore investigation?
The FDA filing?"
"Is a separate matter that I have no control over." A slight pause.
"Though I do have relationships with people who can influence how aggressively certain filings are pursued.
That could work in your favor, or it could work against you, depending on how cooperative you choose to be."
The line went quiet for a moment.
"I'll think about it," I said.
"I hope you will." He sounded satisfied.
"I'll expect your answer by nine a.m."
The call ended.
Grace looked up from her notes.
"He just offered to interfere with a federal investigation on a recorded call."
"I know," I said.
Daniel set his phone on the table.
"The AG's office got the full audio.
They're very interested in the part about witnesses becoming unavailable." He looked at me steadily.
"Elena.
He's going to move tonight.
Whether you accept or not, he can't leave that file in play."
"I know that too."
"So what do you need?"
I thought about my father.
The man who had built something valuable and then walked away from it rather than share it with Thomas Veil.
Who had spent the rest of his life teaching other people's children and packing his own lunch and never once complained about what he had left behind.
He had spent thirty years keeping Thomas Veil away from what he had built.
I was not going to hand it over in forty-eight hours.
"I need to know who the two witnesses were," I said.
"The ones from the SEC investigations.
The ones who recanted or disappeared."
Grace was already moving.
"And I need Grant's personal cell number," I said.
"Not the one he's been calling me from.
His real one."
Daniel raised an eyebrow.
"He warned me to move fast," I said.
May you like
"That means he knows what Thomas is planning tonight.
And I think, given everything, he might be willing to tell me."
