Chapter 9 - Charles and the family company
My father had built Price Home Systems.
Cabinetry.
Custom millwork.
High-end residential interiors.
Not a national empire.
A successful regional company.
He sold seventy percent of it to private equity when I was twenty-six.
Arthur remained in the business and eventually became president of the operating company.
Charles kept a minority stake and board role.
That made Arthur economically important to my parents.
Not because they needed money for groceries.
They were wealthy.
But their identity remained tied to the company.
Arthur preserved that identity.
I did not.
I had worked in communications there for three years after college, then left.
Victoria never forgave the symbolism.
Arthur was:
Continuing the family legacy.
I was:
Doing my own thing.
When the police report reached a local news site three weeks after the party, Price Home Systems received calls.
Arthur’s employer launched an internal review.
Not because slapping a niece automatically controlled employment.
Because he was company president and the video had begun circulating privately among customers.
Charles called Rebecca, my lawyer.
He wanted me to state publicly:
“This was a family misunderstanding.”
She refused on my behalf.
He called me directly afterward.
I answered by mistake.
“Clara, you are destroying your brother’s career.”
I said:
“No.”
“You know what this video is doing.”
“He’s in the video.”
“Your mother is right. You have always needed to win.”
That sentence reached deep.
I almost shouted.
Instead:
“Dad, Gigi was two.”
Silence.
Then:
“I know.”
May you like
“Do you?”
He hung up first.
