Chapter 10 - Richard Sloan
Richard Sloan did not answer Daniel’s call.
Maya told Daniel not to make a second one.
“Investigators will handle him.”
“I want to hear him explain.”
“No, you want to hear him fear you.”
Daniel stared.
“That too.”
“Which is why you won’t call.”
Sloan’s Denver office was searched two days later after prosecutors obtained warrants tied to suspected forgery and fraud.
The records changed everything.
The Raven Peak trust consent had been created in three versions.
Version one was legitimate.
It stated clearly that Summit National would not approve a sale below independent appraisal.
Version two deleted that requirement.
Version three included a forged trustee signature and Daniel’s copied electronic signature.
Sloan’s internal email to Celeste said:
V3 should only be used if D refuses to cooperate. Destroy after closing.
Daniel read the line in Maya’s office.
“He knew.”
“Yes.”
“Celeste knew.”
“Yes.”
“Julian?”
Maya slid over another email.
CROSS APPROVED V3 FORMAT.
Daniel leaned back.
There was no longer much room for innocent explanations.
Then Maya handed him a different document.
“Read this.”
It was Daniel’s 2024 delegation authorization.
His real signature.
Broad language allowed Julian to approve payments for “strategic advisory, refinancing, restructuring, and transaction preparation services” up to $5 million annually.
Daniel stared.
“This is how White Summit got paid.”
“Yes.”
“I gave him authority.”
“Yes.”
“Even if he failed to disclose ownership.”
“That may still be self-dealing and fraud.”
“But the bank wasn’t necessarily wrong to process it.”
“Correct.”
Daniel rubbed his face.
“Celeste was right about one thing.”
“What?”
“I sign too much.”
Maya did not comfort him.
Good.
He was tired of comfort that erased responsibility.
At the next special-committee meeting, Daniel volunteered the document before Julian’s lawyer could.
“I signed it.”
Caroline Ames asked, “Did you understand the scope?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I relied on Julian’s summary.”
“Why?”
“Because he had worked with me for fourteen years.”
Caroline’s face was unreadable.
Daniel continued.
“That was negligent.”
One director asked, “Are you admitting breach of fiduciary duty?”
Maya shifted beside him.
Daniel chose his words carefully.
“I’m admitting I failed to exercise the level of oversight I should have exercised as CEO. Legal conclusions belong to counsel and the committee.”
After the meeting, Maya said, “Better.”
“Better than what?”
“Confessing to a legal cause of action.”
Daniel smiled faintly.
The board made its decision that evening.
Daniel was placed on administrative leave as CEO pending completion of the investigation.
Caroline became interim chief executive.
Daniel’s access to Hart Alpine systems was suspended.
He stood outside headquarters in Denver while snow fell lightly under streetlamps.
For the first time in sixteen years, he had no company email.
No executive assistant.
No office.
No authority to order an audit.
He called Maria.
“Why are you calling me?”
“I lost my job.”
“You are still rich.”
“That is a cruel response.”
“It is perspective.”
He laughed.
Then became quiet.
“I deserved part of it.”
“Part?”
“I didn’t steal. I didn’t forge. But I didn’t look.”
Maria said nothing.
Daniel continued.
“I thought being busy meant I was responsible.”
“It often means you are busy.”
“Another cruel response.”
“Again, perspective.”
Emma spent that weekend with Daniel at their Denver home rather than Raven Peak.
The court-approved evaluator visited.
She observed breakfast.
Homework.
Bedtime.
Daniel overprepared everything.
Emma hated the eggs.
He forgot which toothpaste she used.
He cut her sandwich wrong.
Finally she shouted, “Maria knows!”
Daniel stopped.
“I know.”
“I want Maria.”
“I know.”
“You don’t know anything!”
She ran upstairs.
Daniel sat alone at the table.
He had negotiated nine-figure financing.
He could not make a turkey sandwich correctly.
Ten minutes later, he knocked on Emma’s door.
“Can I come in?”
“No.”
He waited.
Then the door opened anyway.
Emma stood holding Bunny.
“I’m sorry,” Daniel said.
“You always say sorry now.”
“I’ve had a bad month.”
That made her smile despite herself.
He sat on the floor.
“I’m learning.”
“Mommy knew my sandwich.”
“Yes.”
“Maria knew.”
“Yes.”
“You don’t.”
“Not yet.”
Emma looked at him.
“You’re still my dad.”
His throat tightened.
“That helps.”
Then she said, “Mommy said you love work more.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Did she?”
“Yes.”
“Sometimes I acted like work came first.”
“Did it?”
Daniel thought about the years.
Flights.
Meetings.
Calls during dinner.
Maria handling mornings.
Celeste attending school events alone.
“Too often.”
Emma leaned against him.
“Are you going back?”
“To work?”
She nodded.
“Maybe not the same way.”
His phone rang.
Maya.
He answered.
“We have a development.”
“What?”
“Richard Sloan is cooperating.”
Daniel stood.
“Why?”
“Because Julian’s lawyer apparently suggested Sloan acted independently.”
Daniel laughed once.
Broken alliance.
Exactly as expected.
“What did Sloan say?”
Maya paused.
“He says Celeste was not the person who first proposed using Raven Peak.”
Daniel frowned.
“Then who was?”
“Julian.”
“That doesn’t surprise me.”
“There’s more.”
“Of course.”
“Sloan says Julian had already prepared a buyer before Aurelia’s debt crisis became urgent.”
Daniel felt a chill.
“How long before?”
“Nearly two years.”
“That’s before Celeste defaulted.”
“Yes.”
Daniel stared at the dark window.
“So Julian didn’t join Celeste’s crisis.”
“No.”
“He was waiting for one.”
“Looks that way.”
The affair might have been real.
The money certainly was.
But Julian Cross had been positioning himself long before Celeste understood she needed him.
And now the question changed.
May you like
Had Julian helped Celeste save Aurelia?
Or had he helped destroy it so he could acquire control of Daniel’s company?
