Livia nodded, “Which wouldn’t be too weird. I mean, the share price on them is astronomical. You could be set for life with the amount he sold. But it didn’t make sense to me… why would he sell every single one? I mean, he should be a billionaire, right?”
I nodded.
“Wrong!” She exclaimed. “Hewasa billionaire—past tense. Years ago, he set up trust funds for his kids. Those are protected. The money his ex-wife got in the divorce was also protected.”
“Protected from what?” I asked.
“He tried to start another company,” Livia explained and pulled out a paper from the stack, putting it on top. “He invested a ton of money into this shell corporation about ten-ish yearsago. Around that same time, he even registered a business license. It was some crypto thing. It was doing well, and he kept investing more and more money into it.”
“Okay…” I murmured. “Where are you going with this?”
“The company was doing well. It had an upward trajectory, and then William Sr. retired from Bly Enterprises. He handed the company to Bec,” Livia continued. “And then he went to this other company and invested basically everything he had. With how the business was doing, it should have worked in his favor. It was risky, but he expected it was a risk worth taking. And then boom!”
Livia made an explosion noise and threw the papers in the air as she stood.
“You’re cleaning that up,” I scolded.
She waved me off, “Rome, he lost almost everything in a matter of weeks. I don’t know what went wrong, butsomethingdid. Bec’s dad has nothing left. The trust funds and money for his wife are both safe, buthisaccounts are drained. The few personal properties he has are being foreclosed on… he is leveraged up to his eyeballs. He isn’t just out of money, he’s now in serious debt and owes money to the IRS for back taxes… or something. I’m not an accountant; you should have someone legit double-check my work.”
“That sucks that he lost so much, but I don’t know why this is important?”
She sat back down, “Okay, this is pure speculation, but hear me out.” I motioned for her to continue. “He sold his stock in the last couple of weeks. Why would he wait until now? His other company is never recovering unless he gets some serious cash flow soon, and his debts started years ago. So, why now?” She paused for a moment, taking a breath. “I think he’s going to try and tank the stock, buy in again when it’s cheaper, and then build it back up.”
I eyed her, “That feels a bit aggressive.”
Livia shrugged, “Maybe, but it explains why he put Bec in as CEO and then turned on her. I took one business class and hated it, so we should probably get Bec to chime in here, but from the little bit of research I did on this subject… any issues with a CEO can cause stock to become volatile. Between internal issues and the media campaign, I think stock prices would go down. Not astronomically, but enough to make a dent.”
I sighed and scrubbed a hand down my jaw. I stood, unlocked my office door, and opened it. “Come on. You’re telling this all to Bec, and she can explain if it makes sense or not.”
Damn, itdidmake sense.
Livia had explained her findings and theories to Bec. She’d also locked Bec's office door and closed the blinds on every single window. She was oddly convinced she was going to be sniped or something for her findings, as if we weren’t the tallest building around.
Bec tapped her fingers on the desk. “The stock reached its highest in the last quarter, but in the last three weeks it has gone down substantially.”
“Is that bad?” I asked.
Bec shook her head, “Not necessarily. It’s the way the markets work. If there were a massive and unexpected change in leadership, or something to that effect, I could see the stock dipping even lower. It would take something drastic to cause it to plummet. It’s not unheard of, but unlikely. However, it doesseem like my dad could be trying to manipulate stock prices to make some money.”
“Do you really think he would go through all this trouble for a few million dollars?” I mused.
“Oh, with how much money he made selling the stocks, if he reinvested the funds and the price went back up, he would make more than a few million dollars,” Livia interjected as she peeked out the blinds.
Bec nodded in agreement, “He would be able to make enough to get him out of his debt and continue his lifestyle for a while.”
“So all of this—the letters, the kidnapping attempt, the rumors, maybe even the stories in the media—are in an attempt to make your position unstable, and thus manipulate stock prices?” I asked.
Bec shrugged, “It’s plausible.”
A knock sounded on Bec’s office door. Livia went sprinting, peeking through the blinds quickly, turned to us and whispered, “It’s Andi.”
Bec laughed, “Let her in.”
Livia saluted Bec and opened the door.
Andi glanced at Livia with curiosity, which honestly… valid response. Her pink hair was a vibrant mess, and she was dressed in overalls with patches sewn on, along with matching Converse. Livia definitely made an impression.
“What’s up, Andi?” I asked.
