Chapter 10 - ELAINE'S FEAR
Elaine had not wanted Raymond forced out.
She had wanted a document ready in case Raymond asked to leave.
That distinction mattered.
Six months after Laura died, Raymond called her at two in the morning.
He said:
“I can’t do this anymore.”
Elaine asked:
“Do what?”
“Any of it.”
Parenting.
Work.
The house.
The company.
Life without Laura.
Raymond barely remembered the call.
Elaine did.
She became terrified Raymond would make a permanent financial decision during acute grief.
So she asked Paige’s predecessor to prepare options:
temporary leave,
permanent withdrawal,
share repurchase.
Drafts only.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because the next morning you said you didn’t remember calling.”
Raymond closed his eyes.
That sounded possible.
Painful.
But possible.
The permanent-withdrawal acknowledgment began as one of those drafts.
Years later, during Northline preparation, Derek found it in the legal archive.
He sent it to Raymond’s delegated e-sign workflow as if it were current.
That was the shortcut.
Elaine created the document.
Derek repurposed it.
Carrie routed it.
Raymond’s broad delegation allowed it.
Then the independent review found an even harder fact.
Raymond had received a PDF copy after execution.
It sat unopened in his email for eleven months.
He could have discovered it earlier.
That did not make the signature valid.
It did make his ignorance partly maintained by avoidance.
Raymond told Paige:
“I keep wanting the answer to be that Derek did everything.”
Paige said:
“That would be emotionally simpler.”
“It would.”
“But it would also be false.”
Then Elaine disclosed the last thing she had been hiding.
Thomas Cole had taken out a key-person life insurance policy years earlier.
Not on Derek.
On Raymond.
The policy was still active.
Beneficiary:
Cole Urban Homes.
Coverage:
$8 million.
Raymond stared.
“Why am I insured for eight million dollars?”
Elaine answered:
“Because your father believed the company depended on you.”
Derek looked almost offended.
Then Paige checked the policy file.
A change request had been submitted six months earlier.
It proposed reducing Raymond’s coverage and increasing Derek’s.
Reason:
change in key-person status.
Raymond turned toward Derek.
Derek said:
May you like
“I didn’t submit that.”
The request bore Kristen’s name.
