Chapter 8: The Board
The emergency board meeting of Voss Capital was held in the top-floor conference room of Voss Tower — the same building Claire now owned.
Harrison sat at the head of the long mahogany table, trying to project the same calm authority his father and grandfather had once commanded. But the tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a knife.
Thirteen board members sat around the table. Most of them had known Harrison since he was a boy. A few had even attended his wedding to Claire five years earlier.
Margaret Hale stood at the front of the room, calm and professional, as she delivered the news.
“As of eighteen months ago,” she said, “the owner of Voss Tower is Lumen Holdings LLC. And Lumen Holdings LLC is wholly owned by Claire Bennett.”
A heavy silence fell over the room.
One of the older board members, Richard Hale (no relation to Margaret), leaned forward.
“You’re telling us that Harrison’s ex-wife now owns the building our company has operated out of for sixty years?”
Margaret nodded.
“Correct. And as the landlord, she has the legal right to review all lease agreements. She has already requested a full audit of the current lease terms.”
Harrison’s jaw tightened.
“This is ridiculous,” he said, trying to sound dismissive. “Claire is doing this out of spite. We can fight this in court.”
Margaret turned to look at him directly.
“You can try. But I should inform you that Claire also controls a significant portion of the company’s outstanding debt through various investment vehicles. If she chooses to call in those debts, Voss Capital could face serious liquidity issues very quickly.”
Another board member, a woman named Diane Chen, spoke up.
“Harrison, how much of this did you know about?”
Harrison looked around the table. For the first time, he saw something he had never seen directed at him in this room before.
Doubt.
“I didn’t know,” he admitted. “She kept it hidden.”
Diane raised an eyebrow.
“She hid the fact that she owned our building from you? For a year and a half?”
Harrison didn’t answer.
Margaret closed her folder.
“The board should be aware that Claire has no interest in destroying Voss Capital. However, she is no longer willing to subsidize it. From this point forward, all business between Voss Capital and Claire Bennett’s entities will be conducted at arm’s length and at market rates.”
She looked around the room.
“I suggest you begin preparing for significant changes.”
After the meeting ended, Harrison stayed behind in the empty conference room. He stood at the window, staring out at the Minneapolis skyline, and felt something he had never truly experienced before.
Fear.
Not the kind of fear that came from losing money.
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The kind that came from realizing he had never truly known the woman he married.
And now she held more power over his family’s legacy than he did.
