Chapter 4 - THE VENDOR IN THE SILVER DRESS
Reed Strategies existed.
It had employees.
Clients.
Invoices.
Campaign plans.
This was not a fake shell company.
That made Ethan dangerous.
When Claire confronted him through counsel, he admitted Vanessa owned it.
“She performs real work.”
“Why didn’t you disclose your relationship?”
“We were not together when the contract began.”
“Were you sleeping with her when you renewed it?”
He paused.
“Yes.”
“Then you had a conflict.”
“Personal conflict. Not financial.”
Claire almost laughed.
Vanessa was his former girlfriend, current lover, and the owner of a vendor receiving $2.4 million if the acquisition closed.
That was financial.
Then Ethan produced his defense.
Reed Strategies had helped Cole win major contracts.
Its fees were within market range.
Vanessa did not own stock in Cole.
Ethan did not receive her payments.
No direct self-dealing.
Messy.
Not simple fraud.
Then he attacked Claire’s motive.
He produced emails from Claire to her finance chief:
Cole’s price is getting absurd.
And:
If Ethan insists on the retention package, I may walk.
Real.
Claire had questioned the deal before the affair.
Ethan’s lawyer said:
“Ms. Bennett is using a personal betrayal to renegotiate a transaction she already regretted.”
That argument reached Bennett Harbor’s board.
Some directors believed it.
Because part of it was true.
Claire had already thought Cole was overpriced.
The affair did not create the concern.
It exposed something new.
Then the independent review found one irregularity.
Cole Hospitality had moved certain PR and integration costs into Reed Strategies invoices during the last two quarters.
Effect:
Cole’s operating expenses appeared lower.
Profit margins appeared stronger.
Estimated impact:
$1.9 million.
Ethan called it accounting classification.
Possible.
Then Vanessa’s firm produced supporting work.
Some real.
Some thin.
Rachel looked at Claire.
“We need more than an affair.”
Claire knew.
Then the wedding hotel’s security director called.
He had reviewed access logs after the ceremony.
Three days before the wedding, Ethan had visited the media control room.
His question to staff:
“How fast can you kill the ballroom screens if someone puts up an unauthorized video?”
Claire stared.
He had been afraid of exposure before the wedding.
May you like
Which meant Vanessa had threatened him before.
And Ethan had been preparing to control the room.
