Touch & Go (Tessa Leoni, #2)(57)
“Sure you do. You’re the chief of a family-owned business. In your own words, that involves dealing with the family, as much as the business. Six months ago, this family fell apart. Libby discovered Justin had been cheating on her with a travel agent downstairs. What else did she finally figure out?”
“Ashlyn,” the COO said abruptly.
“What about Ashlyn?”
“She came to the office, three months ago. She confronted the girl Justin was rumored to be involved with. And she made quite a scene.”
ANITA HAD JUST BEEN ENTERING THE BUILDING when she’d heard the commotion. Ashlyn Denbe, still clad in her private-school uniform of green-and-blue plaid, was screaming at one of the dark-haired young travel agents. Words such as slut, whore, cunt.
The travel agent was standing there, shell-shocked, when Anita had intervened. She’d dragged Ashlyn upstairs to the relative privacy of Anita’s office—Justin had been out of town on business, thank goodness. Anita had barely gotten the door shut when Ashlyn had burst into tears.
She hated travel agents. She hated this building. She hated Denbe Construction. But most of all she hated her father. All these years, preaching honor and loyalty, then he’d gone and cheated on her mother. Now their family was a mess, and her mom was a mess and it was all his fault. She wished he were dead.
Anita sighed heavily. “Teenage girls,” she murmured. “Thank God, I have three boys instead.”
“What did you do?” asked Special Agent Adams.
“Informed her of the facts of life. What had happened had happened, and there was nothing she could do about it now. Then I told her to go home and stay there. No returning to this building, no yelling at travel agents. This was her parents’ business, not hers.”
“And how did she take that?”
“Glared at me mutinously.” Anita rolled her eyes. “Teenage girls,” she murmured again.
“Did she return?”
“Not that I heard of. It’s possible. I also informed her that if I saw her again, I’d tell her mother. Libby didn’t deserve that kind of added stress, and Ashlyn knew it. The girl is loyal to her mother. She’s just…hurt. Fathers aren’t supposed to be human, you know, especially not the ones who’ve raised their girls to be Daddy’s little princesses.”
“Sounds to me that family was still going through a rough patch.” Special Agent Adams, clearly fishing.
The COO shrugged, not taking the bait.
Wyatt’s question was more direct. “Talk to us about divorce. Date night doesn’t do the trick, Libby decides to go ahead and hire a lawyer. What happens to the family firm?”
For a change, Anita seemed genuinely perplexed. “I… I don’t know. Justin is the sole shareholder. He was wealthy when he first met Libby, so there may be a prenup. If not, I would assume she’d be entitled to fifty percent of their assets, which would include fifty percent of the business.”
“Hefty price to pay for an active social life,” Tessa said dryly.
“Do the crime, serve the time,” Anita answered just as succinctly.
“You think Justin would be willing to part with half his firm?” Wyatt again, his tone patient but probing.
“I don’t… I can’t answer that.”
Which Tessa personally took to mean no. Protect the boss, that seemed to be Denbe Construction’s standard operating procedure. Meaning if they weren’t answering a question, there was something they didn’t want you to hear.
“And if he dies?” Wyatt again, tone still even. “If Justin Denbe isn’t found alive…?”
“I would assume the company reverts to his surviving family. First Libby, then Ashlyn.”
“And in the event they’re dead, too?”
That guarded look again. “I would think there is some kind of provision in Justin’s will. You should follow up with his lawyer, Austin Ferland. He’d know.”
“What about the employees?” Special Agent Adams. “In the event that the entire Denbe family died, would there be an opportunity for, say, the core management team to purchase the company?”
Anita’s gaze definitely sliding sideways…
“Ever try to buy in before?” Wyatt, piling on. “After all, hundred-mil company, you got thirty-five years of blood, sweat and tears tied up into it. Why should Justin have all the glory?”
“We would never try to take over—”
“Not saying take over. Just…buy in. Happens. Hardworking employees get to become profit-worthy shareholders. Ever approach Justin? Raise the question?”
“Once.” She said the word grudgingly. “Cash flow was tight. Some of us, myself included, offered to invest into the company in exchange for an ownership stake.”
“Define others?” Special Agent Adams, clearly intrigued by this line of questioning.
“Myself, Chris Lopez, Ruth Chan. It was a win-win proposition. Doesn’t matter, though. Justin declined. He felt the company could weather the economic downturn, which it did.”
“Except, you still didn’t have an equity stake to benefit from its hundred-million-dollar success.”
“Our bonuses were particularly large that year,” Anita replied curtly.
But even Tessa could read between those lines. A bonus wasn’t the same as ownership. Clearly, Justin Denbe didn’t share his toys. Which already made Tessa wonder what he’d do in the event of a divorce. If he wasn’t willing to share the company with his most trusted management team, would he really share it with his jilted ex-wife?