Chapter 9 - THE BUILDING SALE
The Bellamy property vote became the real battlefield.
Carmen wanted the sale.
Simone opposed it because the three buildings included:
small retailers,
long-term tenants,
two community arts spaces.
The investment fund planned luxury conversion.
Not illegal.
Potentially profitable.
Deline had once supported selling one building but preserving two.
Then wedding chaos distracted everyone.
The proxy gave Carmen control over Deline’s vote.
Deline sued to rescind.
The court granted temporary relief pending review because the circumstances suggested material misrepresentation.
Not final victory.
Then Lydia’s messages became central.
Carmen argued:
Deline knew she was delegating voting power.
Deline admitted:
“I knew I was signing something about transition.”
The problem was what transition she understood.
She believed marriage.
Carmen knew there was no real wedding agreement with Julian.
That mattered.
Then Julian recused himself from all Marzano business discussions involving the buyer’s financing partners.
Again.
No corporate revenge.
Simone asked:
“Does that hurt us?”
“Maybe.”
“Still doing it?”
“Yes.”
Because power used cleanly sometimes means accepting disadvantage.
Then the proxy was voided by settlement.
Not because Deline was helpless.
Because Carmen agreed to avoid public litigation after evidence grew worse.
Deline regained her vote.
At the final family meeting, everyone expected her to side with Simone out of guilt.
She did not.
She proposed:
sell one building,
refinance a second,
preserve the third under long-term community leases.
Simone disagreed initially.
Then reviewed the numbers.
The compromise worked.
That mattered.
Deline’s first independent decision was not:
vote like Simone.
May you like
It was:
think for herself.
