Richard explained that Halston’s legal team had contacted him.
Then he looked at me.
“You must be Christopher.”
“Yes.”
He offered a grim smile.
“I’ve heard your name for years.”
“Hopefully not all bad.”
“Mostly from clients saying Gavin took credit for your ideas.”
Gavin snapped:
“That’s enough.”
Richard ignored him.
The next revelation stunned me.
He still owned forty-nine percent of Mercer & Field.
He hadn’t simply retired and disappeared.
He’d withdrawn from daily operations after years of disagreements with Gavin about the treatment of employees.
Their shareholder agreement contained a misconduct provision.
Gavin’s unauthorized disclosure of confidential acquisition materials triggered that clause.
Richard now possessed the authority to remove him from control.
Gavin realized what that meant.
“No.”
Richard faced him.
“Yes.”
“You can’t.”
“I can.”
“This is my company.”
Richard’s voice remained steady.
“It stopped being your company when you decided the people building it were disposable.”
