Caleb’s face lost its color as Douglas continued speaking in a professional tone.
“Because Mr. Thornton violated fiduciary disclosure rules and marital governance clauses, the compensation committee has already been notified, and before this meeting ends he may no longer even hold the operating executive position.”
The hundred dollar bill remained lying on the table between us.
Tiffany slowly picked it up again with trembling fingers.
For the first time in months, I smiled.
For years the business media had presented Caleb as a towering figure in the furniture industry.
Magazine headlines praised him with bold titles about how he doubled revenue and transformed Briarwood Living into a modern retail empire.
Caleb loved those stories, and Tiffany adored them even more because she believed fame and leadership were the same thing.
What neither of them cared to learn was the true structure behind Briarwood Living.
My grandfather Harold Caldwell founded the company in the state of North Carolina during the early nineteen seventies by building sturdy oak dining tables in a small workshop, and his work eventually expanded into bedroom collections and national retail contracts.