She swallowed the warm bile that climbed up the back of her throat and took a deep breath. "Okay, I kind of suspected overnight that this was bad news, and I did look this morning. She pushed the folder toward Grant. He'd recognize it, of course, because he's the one who created their wills and powers of attorney years ago. "I found my estate documents, but not Logan's. In our safe."
Grant didn't say anything. He pressed his lips together and nodded. "Okay. Well, you tell me when you're ready."
"Let's get it over with," Margo said.
Grant stepped out of the room. He was gone for a few minutes, but it felt like hours.
Soon, he stepped in with a portly man with dark, thinning hair. He wore a dark suit and a green tie. He had round, dark-rimmed glasses, and she wondered why on earth a professional man would wear glasses that looked like that. It was almost comical with the roundness of his body and head.
He shook her hand. "My name is Attorney Mathias Zsidai."
"I'm Margo Price. This is my sister, Carley."
He shook both of their hands and then sat down. He pulled a folder out of his briefcase. It looked similar to the one Margo had brought in, but this one was black, not blue.
"Mr. Price," he stopped and looked at her, then looked back down at the folder, "came in to see me two years ago. He had some changes made to his will and I understand he has now passed."
Margo nodded slowly. "Yes, he passed five days ago."
"Well, I'm not sure if he was lucid before he died or if he shared anything with you of a...a sensitive nature, or if I am the bearer of this news."
Margo squared her shoulders. "If you mean, did he tell me that he had been having an affair for the last seven years? No, he didn't tell me."
Grant Park looked at her. His eyes rounded. He said nothing. His expression was of a man who was stunned. Margo continued.
"My sister found out by looking at his phone while he lay dying. His phone continued to chime. The texts were coming in. She checked the texts and found that they were from Sierra Stigler. Upon looking further into Logan's phone, I see that Logan and Sierra Stigler have been seeing each other for seven years."
Mathias blustered, "Yes, yes, that's my understanding as well. And when Mr. Price came in, he wanted to have an amendment made to his will. Upon his death, well here let me see..." he opened the folder and pulled a will from inside. Since he sat directly across from Margo, she saw Logan's name, upside down, in bold on the document.Logan Price, Last Will and Testament. He cleared his throat and continued lifting the cover page of the will. "Two years ago, Mr. Price came into my office with Ms. Stigler, and he asked to have an amendment made to the will. Upon his death, Mr. Price has given ten percent of Price Realty to Ms. Stigler."
Margo's stomach turned, but ten percent was better than fifty percent, so she would take that. She tried not to show the relief she felt. She simply folded her hands together on top of the table and waited for him to continue.
Attorney Zsidai continued. "Accordingly, Mr. Price also wanted me to convey to you that he would like Ms. Stigler to have a place in Price Realty as his last request. They were very much in love, and he wanted to include her in his business."
Margo knew that Logan seemed to have loving feelings towards Sierra, and she conveyed the same in their texts. She'd read them, ad nauseam, the last few nights. But she didn't say anything. At the moment, the anger that brewed in her gut wouldn't offer anything good coming out of her mouth. Grant Park finally found his voice, and took the document from Attorney Zsidai, and looked it over. "May I have this? Is this a copy, or do you need me to make a copy?"
Attorney Zsidai responded, "That's your copy. I have the original here."
Grant nodded. "Thank you. My client and I will converse if you'd like to step back into the other conference room while we talk. You're welcome to do that. If you prefer to leave and have me, call you, that's certainly up to you as well."
Attorney Zsidai stood. "I'll go talk to my client."
Margo's head spun. Sierra Stigler was here? Sierra Stigler wanted to be part of Price Realty? That was not going to happen. Attorney Zsidai left the room and closed the door.
Grant closed Logan's will. He folded his hands over the top of it and said, "How long have you known about this Margo?"
"Carley and my other two sisters found out while Logan was dying. They didn't tell me until the day of the funeral. I've been reading those texts each night before I go to bed. It solidifies in my gut that Logan has indeed been having an affair with Sierra Stigler, and it has indeed been going on for about seven years. Every time a shoe drops or a bomb drops, it's a nail in Logan's coffin, as far as I'm concerned. I admit I was immediately shocked, and then again, it's weird because I wasn't. As I started reading the texts and comparing the dates with my calendar, when Logan lied that he was going fishing, or playing golf, or he was looking up this business, or he was writing an offer on that business, he was with Ms. Stigler. As I realized how much that lying son-of-a-bitch has actually lied to me, it's giving me more peace."
Grant nodded slowly. "I understand. Well, I'd like to point out a couple of things here if you haven't already figured it out. Logan was a fifty percent owner in Price Realty. He cannot give ten percent of your fifty percent, he can only give ten percent of his fifty percent, which means that all she will own is ten percent of fifty percent or overall, only five percent. The percentage is nil, to be honest with you, and she has no right to ask to be part of the real estate company. She has no voting rights. She does not have any right to anything other than a five percent share of the overall company, which you would only have to offer an accounting and a check once a year after taxes are done."
Margo swallowed.
"Okay, so I need to ask you, Margo, how do you want this to play out as to Sierra Stigler being part of the company and working there?"
"No, she will not be part of my company. It's my company. As a matter of fact, for the last seven years, while Logan was off fucking her, I was working my ass off to build that company. Price Realty is, in actuality, Margo Price, not Logan Price, not Margo and Logan Price, it's Margo Price. I did a little looking when I got back to the office the other day for deals in the pipeline. As far as listing and offers, Logan had eight in our system. Six of those were listings that he's made over the last year. One of them is a written offer that is to close in two weeks. I had many, many more. Twenty-five, to be exact, and if I look back over the last seven years, I think each year will be similar. And I'm happy to do that if you need it for any reason. But that woman will not be part of my business because Logan hasn't been part of my business in seven years."
Grant nodded. "That's fair. So I will tell Attorney Zsidai that you decline Logan's wish and Ms. Stigler's wish to be part of Price Realty."
"Yes, you can decline that request and further tell them about the five percent, or ten percent of fifty percent. Also, I ask that you please read through our incorporation documents and see if Logan even had the right to give off any percentage. I believe it had to be done by a proper procedure, through our corporate documents. I believe a written notice to the board, which are Logan and I, had to be made in writing, and shares had to be offered, voted on, and approved in the minutes of the meeting each year for that to pass. No share certificates were ever awarded. No written request to have shares given over were ever made, were ever voted on, and no certificates were given."