Chapter 10 - Charles Had Known Rebecca Personally
The flash drive contained scanned correspondence from nearly thirty
years earlier.
Rebecca Carter and Charles Cole had worked at the same hospitality
investment firm.
They were not friends.
They were rivals.
Rebecca had accused Charles of pressuring small restaurant owners into
unfavorable deals.
Charles accused Rebecca of sabotaging transactions.
Years later, when Rebecca invested in Evelyn’s new restaurant, Charles
tried to buy her stake.
She refused.
One letter from Charles read:
You are sentimental about businesses that should be treated like assets.
Rebecca replied:
And you are careless about people because spreadsheets don’t look back
at you.
Emily stared at the sentence.
Project Sunset was not simply a new acquisition strategy.
It reflected an old philosophy.
Charles had spent decades believing distressed businesses were easiest
to acquire after weakening the people inside them.
Rebecca had spent decades resisting that approach.
Emily did not inherit a feud.
She inherited a choice.
At the board meeting, Charles attended through counsel.
His investment offer remained technically open.
Emily had eight percent.
Evelyn had forty-four.
Other investors controlled the rest.
Emily could help determine whether Charles reached a controlling
position.
Everyone expected a dramatic speech.
Emily gave none.
She asked questions.
What would happen to hourly workers?
Would locations close?
Would management change?
Would complaint systems remain independent?
Charles’s representatives gave polished answers.
Then Emily asked about Northline.
Silence.
The board postponed the vote pending investigation.
Charles’s acquisition began collapsing as other investors withdrew.
Not because Emily delivered revenge.
Because the risks were now visible.
Then investigators confirmed something Ryan had feared.
Charles had approved Project Sunset.
But Madison had exceeded his written instructions.
Charles authorized fabricated customer-pressure campaigns and
unauthorized data gathering.
The drink toss and viral humiliation were Madison’s escalation.
Responsibility did not belong to one person.
It spread across choices.
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That made the truth less satisfying.
And more real.
