Chapter 16 - Four Days to Payday
The payroll deadline reduced everything to essentials.
We could argue over the past after employees received their wages.
Nina brought together the independent directors, finance advisers, and outside lenders.
Dad was placed on administrative leave pending investigation after the board followed the required process.
He called the action a coup.
I didn't celebrate.
A founder's legacy could still be destroyed even if the person responsible was finally removed from the office.
Martin asked whether I would serve as interim chief executive.
"No," I said.
"Not while the investigations and ownership lawsuit are pending."
Instead, we recruited a respected turnaround executive, Helen Shaw, to lead operations under board supervision.
She had no Mercer family ties.
Her first question was simple.
"Which hotels can support themselves?"
Her second was harder.
"Who has been telling you the truth?"
We worked with the banks to separate operating liquidity from disputed development obligations.
A bridge-financing proposal emerged, but it required independently verified collateral and a credible restructuring plan.
Eleanor and Martin agreed to support it if the due diligence checks passed.
Daniel brought me dinner in the conference room.
"You haven't eaten since breakfast," he said.
I pushed aside a pile of schedules.
"There are three thousand employees."
"And one of them is not you."
I looked up.
He sat beside me.
"Your father taught you that loving people means exhausting yourself for them," he said.
"Please don't let saving the company turn into the same thing."
His words hurt because they were true.
I asked Helen to delegate more work and went home for six hours of sleep.
At dawn, Nina called with good news.
The bank had accepted the short-term payroll facility, subject to final signatures.
At noon, the signatures were complete.
Employees would be paid.
For the first time in weeks, I cried from relief rather than fear.
Then an investigator from the independent committee delivered a final interview summary.
My father had approved the initial Harbor Point funding structure.
Gregory had facilitated questionable transfers.
But the document that triggered the lender penalty appeared to have been uploaded by someone else.
The account belonged to my sister.
May you like
Vanessa.
