“Who was the one in particular?” I asked.
“The one who comes to mind is Lennox Demetri.”
I shook my head. “I don’t recognize the name.”
“Those people involved in finance who read the memoir will.”
“Has he been in high finance” —the term Van had used— “for a long time?”
“Yes, and he’s only a few years older than me.” Van inhaled. “I think it’s why I respect him so much. Despite what you think of my age, Lennox isn’t old. He had an advantage I didn’t. He had the advantage of a father who led the way.”
“Had? Is his father deceased?”
“I meanthadas in Lennox had a road map that I didn’t have.”
“Was your father” —I thought about the name difference— “interested in high finance?”
“My parents are irrelevant. They fucked and gave birth to a son. That was their contribution. They don’t need to be mentioned. I’d prefer they weren’t. One of my first muses taught me that life didn’t have to be stagnant. Wipe the dust of the past off your shoes and never look back.”
I gathered my strength and forged ahead. “Why is your last name different?”
Van’s lips formed a straight line as he turned toward me. “Was that in the information I gave you to use?”
“No, it was in an online biography I read the other day.”
“One of my first significant acquisitions was a well-known regional chain of department stores. There are many reasons why it was floundering, not limited to the mismanagement from the top. It had been around for generations and was existing on its name alone. This was over fifteen years ago. People considered me too young to accomplish what I had. I’d made money, but not—”
“Enough,” I interjected.
Van nodded. “I realized I needed to do more than acquire. With changes in tax law, I understood that liquidation would do more for me than make a business profitable. I set my sight on that chain.”
“Was there a reason?”
“Both of my parents had been employed by the chain for their entire lives. My mother started as a cashier and worked her way up to buyer. She would fly to New York and Europe for fashion shows and help decide what fashions the stores would sell. My father began in accounting at a regional store and moved up to corporate.”
“You targeted an entire chain of stores to hurt your parents?” My stomach twisted.
“I did, Julia. I won’t lie to you and pretend I’m a good man. I’m telling you the truth. I purposely worked to acquire the entire chain and purchase the name that was recognized throughout multiple states. Buying the name was crucial because if I hadn’t, theoretically, senior members of the founding family could restart a new chain with the old name. The average shopper wouldn’t recognize that it was different.”
“What happened?”
“I succeeded. In the process, I liquidated everything and walked away with a substantial profit. During the process, I was blamed for things that were not my doing. I didn’t care. Their mistakes added to my reputation.”
“Like what?” I asked, wondering what would be horrible enough for family members to turn their backs on one another.
“I told you that my people watch for vulnerability. It was a lesson I learned well with this first major acquisition. The chain was having financial problems, spending multiple years in arrears, drowning in debt. One of their last-ditch efforts was to access the employees’ retirement pensions.”
I gasped. “No.”
Van nodded. “The original owners were able to deplete the accounts through a loophole. Of course, their plan was to make money and repay the funds before the employees learned the truth. It didn’t happen that way. The employees learned that their retirement funds were gone when they also learned their jobs were terminated.”
“Could you have helped them?”
Van shrugged. “I didn’t want to, Julia. I wanted them to suffer.”
“Why?”
“My parents know why.”