Chapter 4 - ADRIAN'S LIE
The three of them entered a private conference suite.
Vanessa demanded answers.
“You told me your mother wanted nothing to do with us.”
Adrian loosened his tie.
“I said we were estranged.”
“You said she had no role in the company.”
“I said she wasn’t involved day to day.”
Vanessa stared at Eleanor.
“How much do you own?”
Adrian said:
“Vanessa—”
Eleanor answered herself.
“Forty-one percent directly through Hale Family Holdings.”
Vanessa froze.
“And voting control?”
“Fifty-six percent with trust proxies.”
Vanessa sat down.
Her title suddenly looked smaller.
Then she turned on Adrian.
“You let me walk into this company without telling me she controls it?”
Adrian snapped:
“You never asked who owned what. You asked what title you were getting.”
Cruel.
Accurate.
Vanessa looked hurt.
Eleanor noticed.
So did Adrian.
The marriage had fractures unrelated to her.
Then Vanessa said:
“You set me up to fail.”
Adrian laughed once.
“No. I protected you from a fight I didn’t want to have with her.”
Eleanor looked at him.
May you like
“And in doing so, you let your wife run part of my company without ever meeting me.”
Adrian had no defense.
