Chapter 9 - The Wall
Maria remembered the argument.
She wished she didn’t.
Nathan and Serena had been fighting over a holiday party.
Serena wanted Nathan to cancel a company dinner.
Nathan refused.
Voices rose.
A glass broke.
Nathan punched the pantry wall.
Maria had been in the kitchen with Ava, then only six months old.
The baby began crying.
Nathan immediately stopped.
He apologized.
Then he paid someone to repair the drywall and never mentioned it again.
Now Maria gave Detective Reyes the truth.
“He never hit Serena.”
“Did you fear he might?”
“At that moment?”
“Yes.
Nathan learned about the interview through Rachel.
He did not blame Maria.
That surprised her.
“You told them I frightened you,” he said when they met later.
“You did.”
He nodded.
“Okay.”
Maria studied him.
“You are angry.”
“Yes.”
“At me?”
“No.”
“Who?”
“Myself.”
That answer mattered.
But it did not solve the legal problem.
Serena’s protective-order request did not result in a full permanent order, but the judge imposed temporary no-contact boundaries while the civil case proceeded.
Nathan had to communicate through lawyers.
Rachel warned him the defamation suit could survive long enough to become expensive even if truth ultimately defeated it.
Serena had gained a weapon.
Then Grant made his own move.
Through counsel, he claimed Nathan had pressured him for years to disguise personal expenses as corporate expenses.
“If there was fraud,” Grant’s attorney wrote, “it originated in a culture created by Nathan Cole.”
Auditors found examples.
Private jet flights.
Chalet renovations.
Personal events.
Some had been billed to Cole Summit.
Most were legitimate business expenses mixed with personal benefit.
Several were questionable.
Nathan stared at the report.
“Did I steal from my own company?”
Aaron Miles answered carefully.
“You control most voting shares, but the company has minority investors. Corporate funds are not simply your money.”
Nathan looked ashamed.
“Why didn’t anyone stop it?”
Aaron hesitated.
Nathan almost laughed.
There was the answer.
Because nobody liked bringing Nathan bad news.
The board opened a governance review.
Olivia confronted him.
“Serena and Grant are using your sloppiness.”
“I know.”
“Then stop behaving like accountability is an attack.”
“I said I know.”
“You say that when you want people to stop talking.”
Nathan looked at her.
Then forced himself to breathe.
“Continue.”
Olivia blinked.
Then continued.
“You need to repay anything auditors classify as personal.”
“I will.”
“You need to separate the family office from company accounting.”
“Agreed.”
“And maybe you should step back as CEO until this is resolved.”
That one hurt.
Cole Summit was not only Nathan’s job.
It was his identity.
“Our stock isn’t publicly traded.”
“That does not mean reputation doesn’t matter.”
“I built the company after Dad got sick.”
“And now protect it by not treating it like your personal shield.”
Nathan walked to the window.
Below, Aspen snow covered the street.
He wanted to say Grant had caused this.
Serena had caused this.
But neither explanation erased weak governance.
The next day Nathan temporarily stepped aside as CEO.
Aaron Miles became interim chief executive under board oversight.
News outlets called it a crisis.
Serena’s lawyers called it evidence.
Nathan called it necessary.
Maria called him that evening.
“I saw the announcement.”
“Everyone did.”
“You sound terrible.”
“I’m unemployed.”
“You own most of the company.”
“Temporarily unemployed.”
She laughed.
It was the first light moment in days.
Then her voice changed.
“I found something.”
“What?”
“My daughter returned my old laptop.”
“Why does she have it?”
“I gave it to her last summer.”
Maria had used the laptop at the chalet before Serena moved in full-time.
On it were automatic backups from Maria’s phone.
Photographs.
Messages.
Audio memos.
One recording mattered.
Maria had accidentally left a voice memo running after making a grocery list.
In the background, Serena and Grant spoke in the breakfast room.
Grant: “You can’t keep treating the kid like that.”
Serena: “Don’t lecture me.”
Grant: “Maria notices.”
Serena: “Then Maria goes.”
Grant: “Nathan trusts her.”
Serena: “Nathan trusts whatever story reaches him while he’s afraid.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
The recording was dated six weeks before the milk incident.
Serena had planned Maria’s removal long before the final frame.
Then Grant said something else.
“If Snowbird fails, we walk away.”
Serena laughed.
“No.”
“What?”
“I am not walking away with nothing.”
“You already have Northstar.”
“That’s not enough.”
“What do you want?”
Serena’s answer was soft.
“The life he promised me.”
Nathan replayed it.
Again.
Again.
Then Maria said, “There is more.”
Grant’s voice:
“And if Nathan discovers the invoices?”
May you like
Serena:
“Then we make sure he’s too busy defending himself to look.”
