Chapter 7 - The Emergency Boardroom Ambush
While Arthur was facing the wreckage of his company, Tyler was staging his own pathetic brand of warfare. Believing he was still untouchable, Tyler had called an emergency meeting of the local Business Leadership Council—an organization where Dad had held lifetime influence—hoping to get Haven & Pine’s commercial permits revoked under spurious code violations.
Maya called me on Friday morning while I was reviewing inventory spreadsheets.
“You’ll never guess where Tyler is right now,” Maya said, laughing softly over the line.
“Let me guess. Sitting in a cafe whining to someone who stopped listening twenty minutes ago?”
“Close. He’s currently standing before the executive committee of the Business Leadership Council, presenting a binder of forged documents claiming Haven & Pine acquired its storefront through illegal zoning manipulation.”
I paused my pen. “Forged documents? Does he realize the City Council records are public?”
“Tyler doesn’t research, Claire. He improvises based on spite. The council president called me ten minutes ago asking if we wanted to press charges for submission of fraudulent instruments to a municipal body.”
“Tell them to let him finish his presentation,” I said, a slow smile spreading across my face. “Record the whole thing. Let’s make sure his little performance is preserved for posterity.”
An hour later, Maya forwarded me an audio recording of the council hearing. Listening to Tyler stumble through legal jargon he didn’t understand, trying to explain why my eight years of tax returns were ‘suspicious,’ was better than any comedy special.
When Tyler triumphantly slammed his binder on the mahogany table and demanded an immediate injunction against Haven & Pine, the council president—a sharp-eyed retired judge named Robert Sterling—spoke up.
“Mr. Bennett,” Judge Sterling said coolly. “Are you aware that submitting falsified municipal filings carries a prison sentence of up to five years?”
The audio captured a sharp intake of breath on Tyler’s part. “Falsified? No, these are… my dad gave these to me!”
“Your father’s company is currently in federal receivership for pension fraud, Mr. Bennett,” Judge Sterling replied. “And as for these documents, our zoning inspector verified twenty minutes ago that your signatures on these permits were forged using an expired municipal seal.”
“I want a lawyer!” Tyler stammered.
“You should have brought one,” Sterling said. “Bailiff, please escort Mr. Bennett out of the building. And confiscate that binder as evidence.”
May you like
The recording ended with the sound of a chair scraping loudly against the floor, followed by Tyler’s panicked shouting echoing down the hallway.
I leaned back in my office chair, listening to the recording a second time. Tyler had finally crossed the line from annoying parasite to active criminal defendant. The Bennett family name, which my father and brother had wielded like a club for decades, was now officially mud in every boardroom in the state.
