"So, let me get this straight," Isabel said, her gaze jumping between Darius and Baxter. "You bought a prime plot of land in South Carolina, and then you orchestrated this entire artificial project freeze just to catch out the Winebergs? Or rather, South Coast Hotels?"
"We did it for several strategic reasons, Issy," Darius sighed, leaning back and resting his hands on the edge of the table. "I thought that part of our corporate intent was already clear."
"The Wayne Group didn't purchase the East Bay Street tract outright," Gill interjected, drawing the room’s collective attention back to her side of the table. "I officially leased the land to their development division under an exclusive, ninety-nine-year ground lease agreement with a restrictive master covenant. The terms strictly prohibit the sale of the underlying deed to any external entities, meaning South Coast Hotels can never legally acquire the dirt."
"We are still actively constructing the luxury resort and spa there," Baxter added, leaning forward to look at Isabel. "But in order to keep the Winebergs focused on the trap, Debbi and her uncle’s foundation were granted minority non-voting class-B shares in the operating entity as part of their initial consulting fee."
"Oh!" Michael, Maggie, Penny, and Martin chorused in unison, the pieces of the corporate puzzle finally locking together.
Linda glanced around the table, her eyebrows rising in mild surprise when she realized Penny’s voice had been one of the loudest in that collective chorus.
"Didn't you know about this, Penny?" Linda asked, turning slightly in her chair to look at her friend.
Penny offered a wry, self-deprecating smile, shaking her head as she set her empty serving tray down. "No, I didn't. Darius kept me just as much in the dark as he did everyone else about this specific corporate structure. Honestly, I was far too busy on the ground in Charleston ensuring Baxter didn't actually mess up our regional accounts to notice the entire secondary plot running beneath the harbor development."
"Baxter and I couldn't risk anyone at the firm knowing what we were doing," Darius explained, his voice smooth but firm. "With a sophisticated mole inside our company, any leak would have ruined the entire counter-sting. It was absolutely essential that the strategy remained between only the three of us."
“Three?” Linda turned her head to look at him, her forehead creasing. "I thought it was only you and Baxter."
"There was Clyde," Darius explained, his expression turning serious. "Clyde owns a security company that does a lot of detective work for various businesses. He's the only one who had the authorization to bypass our standard network firewalls and monitor the cloned security profiles without triggering an automated system alert."
"And we recently found out that one of Clyde's security team is actually working on the side with Rory," Baxter added, resting his elbows on the teak. "Clyde has kept him active in his agency so as not to trigger alarms, and we can feed our bogusinformation through the man so South Coast Hotels doesn’t think anything of it."
“So Rory and this security guy think you’re none the wiser to what they are doing?” Michael asked.
“Yes, they think that I’m…” Baxter started to talk.
"That you're a backstabbing shark?" Isabel said, her voice sharp, her eyes flashing with cold, defensive fire as she cut in.
Linda watched the exchange closely. She could tell that despite the mounting evidence of the setup against Baxter, Isabel still didn't fully trust her cousin. The emotional wounds from Baxter's supposed corporate betrayal ran deep, and Isabel wasn't ready to sweep them aside just yet.
Baxter let out a quiet, heavy sigh. "Issy..." he said, a distinct hint of sadness softening his usually confident voice. "I'm telling you that I was set up from the very beginning, and..." He paused, offering her a tight, defensive smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Well, maybe it is best for our public cover that you still don't trust me."
"So when do you officially get the report from Hyrum's team on the Charleston artifacts?" Linda asked, skillfully stepping in to redirect the conversation back to the tactical issue at hand before the family tension could boil over.
"We should have the official documentation in a day or two," Darius told her.
"Although we've already read the exact draft they are going to submit," Baxter added with a quiet chuckle. "Rory received an advance copy of the report yesterday to review and prepare their response before Hyrum Wineberg officially transmits it to me."
"Hyrum actually wrote to us this morning, apologizing for the lengthy delay in getting the final assessment to the Wayne Group," Darius said, a mocking edge to his tone. "He claimed that to be very thorough, he had another independent archaeological team going over the site just to ensure the historical findings of the first excavation crew were entirely accurate."
Isabel frowned, looking across the table at her brother and then at Owen. "Is that a normal process? Having a second team repeat the work of the first?"
Owen shifted in his seat, his fingers tightening slightly around Isabel's hand as he drew on his decades of field experience.
"In standard commercial CRM, Cultural Resource Management, it’s highly unusual unless there’s a major dispute," Owen explained, his voice calm and authoritative. "But under state compliance guidelines, if the initial survey uncovers something of highly significant national value, the state agency.” His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “Or the developer can request a peer review or a secondary, independent verification team to audit the methodology.” He glanced up at Isabel and Linda noticed his eyes soften. “It's usually done to protect the project from future litigation, but in this case, the Winebergs are clearly using it as a strategic stall tactic. They want to prolong the project freeze, running up the Wayne Groups' municipal holding fees and insurance costs until the land becomes a financial black hole Darius is desperate to unload."
"I'll personally review the foundational ground lease documents and the corporate structure of the class-B minority shares," Penny stated, her voice carrying the clear, authoritative weight of her legal training. She leaned slightly across the table, her gaze locking onto Michael. "Michael, I'd like you to sit in on theanalysis report with me as soon as we get it if you’re willing. Your practical experience with local zoning ordinances and historical district compliance is exactly the secondary filter we need to ensure the Winebergs can't spot any vulnerabilities in any of the reports we get done."
Michael gave a slow, deliberate nod, his fingers tapping a quiet rhythm against the wood grain of the table.
"I'm in. We need to verify that the restrictive covenants on the underlying deed can withstand an aggressive municipal challenge if Thompson tries to utilize his political leverage to alter or push anything through to manipulate the outcome," Michael answered Penny, then turned to Darius.
"We will need to ensure Michael is onboarded to the Wayne Group as a consultant, but we will keep it between us to ensure it doesn’t get leaked to Rory," Darius interjected smoothly. He leaned his elbow comfortably on the table and clasped his hand in front of him. His gaze moved between Michael and Penny. "Up until the exact moment we possess those finalized reports and the Winebergs have officially played their hand regarding the Hearts Hotel debt structure, we cannot afford to let them catch even a whisper of Michael's direct involvement."
Linda watched her brother’s analytical eyes scan the room, his corporate mask locked into place.
"If Thompson or Debbi suspect for a single second that the Heart family is actively collaborating with the Wayne Group in any capacity," Darius explained, his tone dropping into a low, serious register, "they will immediately withdraw their offers, bury the paper trail, and pivot to an entirely different corporate entity to insulate themselves. But the moment all the archaeological reports are securely logged on our serverand we are ready to execute the public takedown, we will make Michael's participation fully official. With Penny’s corporate background and Michael's extensive municipal legal mind driving the joint defensive front, the strategic impact will be significantly more powerful than anything the Winebergs' private counsel can counter."
