Chapter 20 - The final corporate settlement
Hargrove Project Services and Mercer reached final civil settlement.
Not because company wanted endless war.
Terms:
HPS acknowledges $120,000 loan.
Repayment over eighteen months instead of original matured due date.
Interest at negotiated market rate.
$15,620 excess compensation settlement after verified offset.
Mutual release of related consulting disputes.
No admission of fraud.
Lucas barred from serving as Mercer vendor approver or officer in future.
HPS may bid for future work only after three years and independent procurement approval.
Probably irrelevant.
Then signing.
Everett did not sit opposite Lucas.
Independent committee counsel did.
Barbara not involved.
Good.
First several payments made.
Could HPS complete all eighteen months within story?
No need.
Current compliance enough.
Then Lucas withdrew threatened employment claim.
Company paid no wrongful-termination settlement.
Each side own fees.
Done.
Everett told me:
“Corporate matter is closed except repayment monitoring.”
Good.
Then:
“Does that mean he’s forgiven?”
Everett looked confused.
“That is not an accounting term.”
I laughed.
Finally.
Then the trust.
Did my distributions suffer?
Mercer legal/audit costs reduced company profits somewhat.
Indirectly all owners bore some cost.
No one magically insulated.
That mattered.
My family’s company paid to fix controls.
Lucas paid amounts tied to his conduct.
Shared system failure had shared costs.
Then Mom said:
“Your father would hate how expensive lawyers are.”
Everett:
“Your father was a lawyer’s best customer.”
Again.
No dead-parent prophecy.
Just memory.
Then family court remained.
Permanent parenting order not yet entered.
Divorce decree not yet final.
Main active issue:
Could Lucas get near-equal custody after all this?
I still feared yes.
Dr. Arden said:
“That word—get—makes parenting sound like property.”
May you like
I wanted to throw something.
Instead I listened.
