Chapter 6 - THE MAN FROM NORTHSTAR
Derek Shaw denied entering the apartment.
He admitted being in the building.
Northstar had leased a conference suite on the seventeenth floor for deal negotiations.
Convenient.
He told Naomi:
“I met Ryan downstairs at nine-thirty. We discussed transaction timing. I left before ten.”
Lobby logs showed Derek’s key card exiting the building at 10:08.
The countdown began around 10:45.
He appeared clean.
Then Ava asked:
“What was ‘test window’?”
Derek paused.
“I don’t know.”
“It was on Ryan’s calendar with your name.”
“Then ask Ryan.”
Smart answer.
Naomi did.
Ryan’s attorney replied:
Test window referred to a transaction modeling session.
Plausible.
Everything was plausible.
That afternoon, Ryan agreed to postpone the Northstar vote for forty-eight hours.
The board praised his restraint.
Ava almost threw her phone.
Naomi stopped her.
“He wants to look reasonable.”
“He chased me through my home.”
“And now he is volunteering to wait. That contrast helps him.”
Ryan then made his next move.
He requested an independent psychological fitness evaluation for both spouses.
Both.
Not only Ava.
He would submit too.
That made the request look fair.
The board began considering it.
Ava stared at the proposal.
“He’s trying to make the issue whether I’m crazy.”
“Yes.”
“What if I refuse?”
“He says you fear the result.”
“What if I agree?”
“He gets the framing.”
Ava sat back.
Ryan was not defending the chase.
He was expanding the battlefield until the chase became one symptom in a larger story about her instability.
Then Naomi found Northstar’s executive compensation schedule.
Ryan Carter — Post-close Chief Executive Officer.
Retention award:
$8,000,000.
Payable only if transaction closes before quarter end.
Ava stared.
Tomorrow was the final day of the quarter.
Ryan did not only need the company saved.
May you like
He needed the deal closed now.
And if Ava was unavailable for one morning, he became eight million dollars richer.
