Chapter 7 - I HAD ALREADY FOUND SOMETHING WRONG WITH DAD'S COMPANY
I had not personally reviewed Grant Premier Interiors at first.
One of my teams did.
The file reached my desk because something looked wrong.
Inventory.
The company reported $7.8 million in luxury furniture inventory.
Physical verification suggested closer to $4.9 million.
Nearly three million dollars existed only on spreadsheets.
I asked for explanations.
Management blamed shipment timing.
Then valuation.
Then software errors.
None satisfied me.
I had not yet known the company requesting the loan was my parents’.
Grant Premier had recently reorganized through a holding company with a generic name.
When Julian’s firm revealed the owners during final diligence, I recused myself immediately.
But by then, my team had already flagged the discrepancy.
Dad stared at me.
“You were going to deny the loan.”
“I wasn’t making the loan.”
“Your report would kill it.”
“My report describes numbers.”
Mom stepped forward.
“Clara, if that business fails, people lose jobs.”
Julian said:
“Don’t.”
She looked at him.
“Excuse me?”
“Do not turn employees into leverage against her.”
For once, someone named the tactic while it was happening.
Dad said:
“The inventory numbers are temporary.”
“How temporary?” I asked.
No answer.
Then Uncle Robert spoke again.
“Thomas, tell them about Phoenix.”
Dad went pale.
“What’s Phoenix?” I asked.
Grant Premier had a warehouse in Phoenix.
At least on paper.
My company’s diligence team requested access twice.
Both requests were delayed.
Robert said quietly:
“There is no warehouse.”
The room seemed to shrink.
Dad snapped:
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Robert continued.
“The lease ended eleven months ago.”
Yet Grant Premier still reported $2.1 million in inventory stored there.
Fake inventory.
Fake collateral.
Potential lender fraud.
Maya covered her mouth.
Mom whispered:
“Thomas?”
Her shock looked real.
Dad had secrets even from her.
Then Julian received a message.
He read it.
His face changed.
“What?”
He looked at me.
“The lender just discovered a second promissory note.”
Another supposed debt.
This one was not in my name.
Borrower:
Maya Grant.
Amount:
May you like
$420,000.
The parents who had spent all night pretending Maya was their perfect daughter were preparing to use her as collateral too.
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