Page 62 of Morally Black Betrothal

This decision would ruin lives while making a few people very, very rich.

In school, students generally learn that the social contract basically means sacrificing a few things for the public good. A bit of liberty. An occasional life. A small surrender for the benefit of many.

What they don’t learn is that reality usually benefits a slim minority at the cost of nearly everyone else.

I ignored a weight in the pit of my stomach as I scanned the numbers of farms that seemed destined for foreclosure. I could try to be fair. Fair, but ruthless. “What’s the deal with Maple Acres?”

“They’re a syrup company,” Liam said. “Lots of corn and sugar. Not the best business model and their profits have been plummeting for the last several years. They’re behind on their mortgage and have gotten several extensions.”

“The land is fallow,” Owen bit out. “I wanted to develop it years ago. It’s two miles outside of Burlington, which needs more multi-family housing.”

I pointed to another. “What about Dandelion Farm? They have a lot of acreage too.”

“Yeah, family-run dairy, owned by I think six generations of the same family,” Liam supplied. “Had a solid following in the eighties and nineties, but they’ve been going through it since theturn of the millennium. They were already close to bankruptcy before we bought the mortgage.”

“‘Bought the mortgage,’” I muttered to myself as I continued to flip through page after page of bad real estate. “We’re a holding company, not a fuckin’ bank. When did we get in the business of helping out farms, of all goddamn things?”

“I believe that was my contribution,” Ronan piped up with a grin. “Legalizing pot was the best thing we ever got behind in Vermont. And Dad thought it was a waste of my time.”

“Youmade recreational pot legal?” Shea wondered.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Ronan purred.

“I would, actually. I didn’t know we had that much power.”

“Oh, you sweet summer child.” Ronan patted her atop the head like a puppy. “Come to the table more than once every three months, and I’m sure Daddy will set you up with your own politicians to corrupt for your pet projects. You can’t do worse than Owen’s done with his today.”

“Shut thefuckup,” Owen snapped.

It was true. Once the four of us had joined the company, Dad had given us all projects and eventually real capital to invest as a way of testing our instincts. Some of us had been more successful than others. I went the route of pharmaceuticals, which had been particularly successful when one of our companies got on the ground floor of GLP-1s. Ronan had explored the liquor, tobacco, and yes, marijuana markets. His sector had done increasingly well as more states had moved to legalize weed. Shea was barely getting started out in Silicon Valley.

Meanwhile, Owen had dabbled in a few different sectors, none of which had been overwhelmingly successful, but nothing that was a direct failure either. I imagined he’d been hoping this ecotourism venture would finally get him the recognition he wanted.

Or the position he so clearly sought.

Right now, however, he was seething.

“Don’t worry, bro.” Ronan bared his teeth at Owen with a sharkish grin. “It’s only, what, your fourth try to prove yourself to Pops? You’ll get it one of those days.”

“Liza,” I cut in before Owen decided to launch himself across the table at Ronan. “What’s the next order of business?”

The meeting went on without making a final decision about which properties to offload, but I asked Liza to stay behind as everyone packed up their things.

“These are all the bad mortgages?” I asked her, holding up the document she’d left on the table.

With a glance toward where Owen was hovering outside the room, just out of earshot, she nodded. “Most of them are either close to or already in default, yes.”

It was time to be decisive. “Dump them.”

From the other side of the glass, my brother watched me like a hawk.

“If you do this, you’re going to make some enemies.” My CFO looked uncertain as she glanced between Owen and me.

“I need to look at the whole picture, not just one part of it all. And shareholders need austerity right now, not massive risks. Now isn’t the time for risking that much on consolidation and building a neo-Telluride in the middle of Vermont.” I nodded toward him, then turned my back. “Dump them. We’re done for today.”

Fifteen minutes later,I was going through Liza’s financial reports when I was interrupted by the buzzer at my desk.

“Mr. Black, there’s a young woman here to see you. She says her name is Simone Bishop.”