Chapter 2 - THE BUYOUT
At the hospital, Claire’s injuries were documented.
Bruising.
Fresh red marks.
Tenderness.
No fractures.
No direct trauma to the abdomen.
The baby’s monitoring was reassuring.
Claire cried when the nurse said that.
Not from relief alone.
From realizing how frightened she had become of her own home.
Michael sat nearby.
The folder rested on his lap.
Claire had never heard of a Northline buyout.
Daniel worked for Northline Freight Systems as a regional operations director.
Good salary.
Long hours.
Increasingly secretive over the past year.
He told Claire the company was restructuring.
That explained late meetings.
Travel.
Tension.
Now the documents showed something else.
A group of four managers, including Daniel, had formed:
NFS Management Partners LLC.
They planned to purchase one underperforming regional division from Northline’s parent company.
Purchase price:
$6.4 million.
Financed through:
bank debt,
seller financing,
manager equity,
and a private bridge facility.
Daniel’s required equity contribution:
$620,000.
Claire stared.
“We don’t have six hundred twenty thousand dollars.”
Michael turned a page.
Apparently Daniel thought they did.
Sources listed:
Joint brokerage liquidation — $188,000.
Cash savings — $92,000.
Home equity proceeds — $265,000.
Retirement loan — $75,000.
Claire went cold.
The brokerage account was joint.
The house was joint.
The cash savings were joint.
The retirement account was Daniel’s.
But Claire had never agreed to liquidate the first three.
Then another page.
RELOCATION ASSUMPTION:
Bennett household to move to Charlotte within 45 days of close.
Primary residence to be sold.
Temporary apartment for twelve months.
Household expense reduction target:
$9,500 per month.
Claire looked at Michael.
“I’m due in five weeks.”
Michael nodded.
Then she found a handwritten note beside the relocation line.
D.B.:
Need C committed before funding.
C.
Claire.
Then another:
Pregnancy timing makes sale impossible unless handled now.
Claire felt sick.
May you like
The baby was not only an emotional problem to Daniel.
It was on the funding timeline.
