One More Taste (One and Only Texas #2)(70)
She opened the door and stepped out. “I won’t.”
*
Roger Healy tossed his copy of the structural engineering report on the conference table in Briscoe Equity Group’s meeting room. He pulled his glasses off his nose to chew on the earpiece while he glared at Ty. “This report is troubling in more ways than one.”
Seated next to Knox, Ty sat a little straighter. “Agreed. I’m sure no one was more surprised than me at the extent of the problem.”
Linda Yamaguchi, one of the firm’s lawyers, cleared her throat. “We evaluated several of the property assessments you provided before we invested. None of them indicated even the possibility of an issue, including the sections of the reports specifically about hydrological and geological integrity. Are you saying that every one of the reports got it wrong?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Then how do you explain the proof Knox provided that you were the one who orchestrated the false documentation?”
“Excuse me?” For the duration of the meeting, Ty’s expression had remained blank, his posture unyielding, as the investors and lawyers took him to task on the report. But at this new information, Ty blanched. His fa?ade cracked.
Yamaguchi slid a bound stack of papers across the table. “Along with the structural engineering report, Knox provided us with an evaluation by a second team of structural engineers and geologists of the appraisals and inspection documents you’ve provided the county records office and loan officers for years, comparing them against blueprints of the resort. The picture they paint isn’t pretty. Or legal. But whether the erroneous information was a result of willful negligence on your part or the purposeful falsifying of documents and bribery is something for a judge to decide.”
Ty very deliberately removed his Stetson and set it on the table in front of him as he seemed to be carefully picking his words. “It was a different time. And there was no harm done. It was an honest mistake. Despite what it looks like today, I would never endanger the people at my resort—the employees or the guests.”
The investors shifted uneasily at that. Healy slid a copy of the proof and analysis of Ty’s misdeeds across the table. The stack of papers displaced Ty’s hat. Ty eyed it as one might regard at a poisonous plant.
“By inflating the value of the business, you’ve swindled us out of millions,” Healy said.
Ty crumpled the brim of his hat in his grip. “I can make this right. You have to give me a chance.”
Boris Sandomir tipped back in his chair and laced his fingers over his ample waist. “Are you suggesting that you’ll return the money from our initial investment?”
“I don’t have it to return,” Ty stammered. “You know that.”
To Knox’s dismay, it was not as enjoyable as he’d expected to watch Ty get taken to task. For all his faults and lies, Knox had come to know Ty’s humanity these past few weeks. Despite his flaws, he was still a human being with feelings—a father, a husband, an uncle—but there was no way Ty was leaving this meeting with anything resembling pride. Knox tried to remind himself that Ty had brought this on himself, that Ty had not shown compassion to Knox’s dad when he exiled him from the family. But, try as he might, Knox couldn’t shake the feeling that this dressing down was unnecessary. Stripping him of his title and ownership of the resort was enough.
“But I do,” Knox said. All eyes turned to him. It was a relief to have the floor once more, to shift the tone of the meeting away from berating Ty and back to Knox’s plan to exact justice for his father.
Healy snorted, clearly unimpressed. “I’m not sure anything you say is going to carry much weight. This investment was your brainchild. You convinced us that this was a short-term, high-yield investment. But we were misled. Whether or not you were a party to this deception, it doesn’t make you come out smelling like roses.”
“I understand.” In fact, that had been one of Knox’s worries when he’d originally devised the strategy to take over Briscoe Ranch so he could sell it off. But the potential rewards eclipsed the risks, turning Knox’s plan of justice into yet another high-stakes gamble, the same kind he’d based his career on. At least, in that way, he was on familiar ground. “Even with all of this … unpleasantness, the selling points of the resort haven’t changed. Its ideal location, its international reputation. And both teams of engineers I’ve consulted with think the hydrological and geological problems are reversible. The bottom line is that we could all still make a lot of money. The only difference is that it will take more time than we’d previously allowed for.”
Healy strummed his hand over his copy of the report. “I think I speak for all of us when I say that this is a headache we’re not interested in. I say we shut it down, sell the land, and recoup our investment, profits be damned. We’ve done that before when deals went sour.”
The grumbling around the room affirmed Healy’s opinion.
Knox kept his cool, outwardly, but his pulse was beating out of control. In his zeal to stick it to Ty, he hadn’t seen this possibility coming. But if he couldn’t convince them to wait out the problems with the resort instead of writing it off as a loss, there wouldn’t be any restaurant in need of a brilliant, passionate head chef. There would be nowhere for Granny June and the Briscoe family to live. Sure, eventually, Knox still planned to sell the resort off, but not until it was a success. Not until he’d had time to ease the Briscoe family into the idea.