Chapter 10 - LILI'S OWN MONEY
Lili’s 30% economic interest complicated everything.
If CER failed, she lost money too.
Ryan used that.
“You think I did this for myself?”
“For the company.”
“For us.”
“No.”
“You cash the distributions.”
“When there are distributions.”
“Exactly. You take the upside and leave me every ugly decision.”
That landed.
Lili had spent years telling Ryan:
“You wanted the company. You run it.”
When equipment broke, Ryan handled it.
When employees quit, Ryan handled it.
When clients delayed payment, Ryan handled it.
Lili attended no meetings.
Asked no questions.
Yet she expected her ownership to remain clean.
Ryan said:
“I had thirty-two employees.”
“You had options.”
“Name one.”
“Tell us the truth.”
“Mom would panic. You would say sell.”
“Maybe.”
“And Dad’s company disappears.”
Lili looked at him.
“Then maybe it needed to.”
Ryan flinched.
That was cruel.
May you like
But the point remained.
Survival did not authorize staging evidence.
