Silence.
Then she said,
“Because Flynn isn’t the reason I came to Vance Global.”
We met in a crowded café in Cambridge.
I chose public.
Martin sat three tables away.
Selina arrived without the necklace.
Without makeup, she looked younger than I remembered.
Maybe thirty.
She sat across from me.
I didn’t smile.
“You have ten minutes.”
She nodded.
“My name isn’t technically Selina Price.”
I said nothing.
“My mother’s name was Price.”
“And your father’s?”
“Ward.”
Something shifted in Martin’s expression across the room.
Selina noticed.
“My father was Alan Ward.”
I knew the name.
Everybody in Boston finance over forty knew it.
Alan Ward had been controller of Vance Logistics twenty years earlier.
He had been convicted of stealing nearly four million dollars.
He served six years in prison.
His wife divorced him.
He died three years after his release.
Selina looked at me.
“My father always said he was innocent.”
“Most convicted people do.”
“I know.”
Her voice tightened.
“I spent years believing he was lying. Then after he died, I found his records.”
She placed a flash drive on the table.
“Ledgers. Emails. Bank copies. He had discovered Gordon Vance moving money through phantom vendors. When he threatened to report it, Gordon framed him.”
I looked at the drive.
“Why not go to police?”
“Because twenty years ago, the evidence wasn’t enough. Gordon had destroyed records.”
“And you decided to sleep with Flynn?”
She flinched.
“I took a job at Vance Global to find what survived.”
“By sitting on my husband’s lap.”
Her face reddened.
“No excuse will make that right.”
“Correct.”
“I didn’t plan the affair.”
“That’s reassuring.”
“He started flirting. Then he started showing off. The closer I got, the more access I had.”
I leaned forward.
“You could have said no.”
“Yes.”
“Instead you helped him destroy my marriage.”
“Yes.”
I hadn’t expected her to agree so quickly.
Selina looked down.
“I hated myself long before you walked into that office.”
I didn’t care.
Not yet.
She continued.
“Three months ago, I found Northline.”
My anger cooled into attention.
“Gordon is moving assets before a sale.”
“What sale?”
“A private equity acquisition.”
“Flynn never mentioned one.”
“Because shareholders aren’t supposed to know yet. Gordon and Flynn negotiated a side agreement. They get paid separately if the sale closes.”
“How much?”
“Forty-two million.”
My stomach turned.
“And everyone else?”
“The company gets loaded with debt. Divisions get sold. Retirement obligations get restructured.”
“The pension plan?”
Selina nodded.
“That’s why I called you.”
I stared at her.
“Why me?”
Her answer came quietly.
“Because I found your father’s agreement.”
I stopped breathing.
“What?”
“There is something in it your attorney may not have seen yet.”
Martin was already standing.
He came to our table.
“What something?”
Selina pushed the flash drive toward him.
“A schedule attached to the original financing agreement.”
Martin’s face changed.
“Schedule Seven?”
Selina nodded.
He sat down.
I looked between them.
“What is Schedule Seven?”
Martin didn’t answer immediately.
That frightened me.
Finally he said,
“Your father once mentioned it.”
“Meaning?”
“Richard insisted on an executive misconduct protection.”
Selina spoke.
“If any member of the Vance family used company funds for undisclosed personal benefits above a specific threshold, additional voting rights could be activated.”
