Three days after giving birth to twins by cesarean section, Juliette Morel saw her mother-in-law enter her clinic room with her husband’s mistress on her arm and a separation file placed against her chest.
Geneviève Delmas didn’t even bother to ask how she was doing.
“Sign,” she said, placing the file on the sheet. “You will receive €18,000,000. We’ll keep the boys.”
Next to the cribs, Thomas, Juliette’s husband of 6 years, lowered his eyes.
His mistress, Maud, wore an ivory suit and, around her neck, the antique watch that Juliette had given to Thomas for their wedding.
Juliette felt her scar pull as she sat up.
— Thomas ?
He finally looked at her.
— It will be simpler for everyone.
Plus simple.
Juliette had spent years saving this man from his panic attacks, negotiating with his creditors when the family real estate group almost collapsed, and giving up her law firm when Geneviève kept telling her that “a woman from Delmas didn’t need to chase after a career.”
Geneviève tapped the last page.
— You’re exhausted. You’re not going to turn these children’s lives into a legal battle. Take the money and start over somewhere else.
Juliette stared at the two small, sleeping faces.
Then she asked for a pen.
Thomas relaxed his shoulders.
Maud smiled.
Juliette signed the protocol, page after page.
Geneviève retrieved the file as if she had just completed a sale.
— Tomorrow, the boys will go out with their father.
Juliette put down the pen.
— Non.
Geneviève’s smile froze.
— Pardon ?
Juliette turned her head towards her.
— I said I signed. I didn’t say you won.
That night, at 11:38 p.m., Juliette left the clinic through a side exit with her twins, a private midwife, and a travel bag.
On the nightstand, she left only one envelope.
It was not intended for Thomas.
It was addressed to the supervisory board of the Delmas group.
PART 2
By 7:11 a.m., Geneviève had already called 14 times.
At 8 a.m., the Delmas group council opened the envelope.
It contained a shareholders’ agreement signed 4 years earlier, when a holding company belonging to Juliette’s father injected €240,000,000 to prevent the group’s bankruptcy.
In exchange, the holding company obtained preferred shares, veto rights and a clause allowing the conversion of certain obligations into additional voting rights in the event of concealment of financial commitments or diversion to related companies.
The second document was an audit report.
For the past 6 months, Juliette had discovered millions transferred to a consulting firm run by Maud’s brother.
The 3rd document was the conversion notification.
At 8:19 a.m., Juliette’s holding company obtained 52% of the voting rights.
At 8:23 a.m., Thomas wrote to him:
“What did you do?”
Then :
“Call me immediately.”
Juliette was giving one of the twins a bottle when a final message appeared.
“You’re destroying my family.”
She watched her son close his little hand around her finger.
At that same moment, Geneviève entered the council chamber.
Juliette’s lawyer was waiting for him in the president’s place.
PART 3
Geneviève Delmas stopped so abruptly in the doorway of the room that Thomas, just behind her, almost hit her.
Around the long oak table, no one stood up.
That was already a humiliation.
For almost 20 years, Geneviève entered this room as if it were her own living room. She chose the directors, kept the bankers waiting, and interrupted presentations when they bored her. Even after officially handing over the operational presidency to her son, she remained the one everyone looked to before making a decision.
That morning, people’s eyes were elsewhere.
To Ms. Sarah Besson.
Juliette’s lawyer had placed in front of her 4 thick folders, a computer and a certified copy of the shareholders’ agreement.
Maud stays near the door.
His insurance had disappeared.
“You have no business being here,” Geneviève snapped.
Sarah looked up.
— I represent the shareholder who now holds the majority of voting rights.
— A questionable conversion.
— You will be able to contest it.
Sarah calmly pushed a document to the center of the table.
— But not ignore it.
Thomas grabbed the pages.
Her face changed from the very first line.
— That’s impossible.
“Your signature is on page 47,” Sarah replied.
— I signed hundreds of documents during that time.
— That’s precisely the problem.
Geneviève leaned towards him.
– What is this ?
Thomas did not reply.
Four years earlier, Delmas Habitat had invested almost all of its cash reserves in a high-end residential development in Lyon, Annecy, and along the Atlantic coast. A sharp increase in costs, several delayed permits, and the withdrawal of a banking partner had brought the company to within weeks of insolvency.
Juliette’s father, Marc Morel, was still alive.
A former industrialist turned investor, he had never liked Geneviève, but he loved her daughter and knew what the fall of Delmas would mean for hundreds of employees.
His holding company had therefore contributed €240,000,000 in the form of a scheme combining capital increase, convertible bonds and guarantees.
Thomas only remembered one thing: the money had arrived.
Juliette, for her part, had read all 73 pages.
At the time, she was still a business lawyer.
She was the one who had negotiated part of the guarantees.
When her father died 2 years later, she became the main beneficiary of the family holding company.
Geneviève had never wanted to know.
For her, Marc Morel’s money had become the Delmas’ money as soon as he had saved the Delmas.
Sarah opened the next shirt.
— We have also requested the immediate suspension of management bonuses, exceptional distributions and any transaction with a company linked to Ms. Maud Perrin or a member of her family.
Maud turned pale.
— Why is my name in there?
No one answered right away.
Sarah rotated her screen.
A series of transfers appeared.
347 000 €.
510 000 €.
186 500 €.
920 000 €.
“Positioning studies”.
