A story of power, money, and deception.

MOUNTAIN VIEW ESTATES CONSTRUCTION PROJECT, NORTHWEST OF DENVER

Richard Stone was looking out the window of the small construction trailer that was his office while he was on site and saw the black Cadillac Escalade pull up outside. As he watched, he saw three people get out of it. The first person he saw was a strikingly beautiful African American woman step out of the back of the vehicle. He almost gasped as he took in the beauty of her face.

He then looked at the other two people, both men. One was older then himself, and the other looked as young, if not younger, than his own son. But neither of them was Harold Canel.

As the three of them started to walked toward the door of the office, Richard walked over to it and opened it.

"Good afternoon," he said as the three walked into the building. "I am Richard Stone."

"Nice to meet you, Mister Stone," said the older man as he shook his hand. "I am Paul Stratton, this is Marcia Elliot and this is Bryon Lange, from Stone Valley Properties." Paul gestured toward the others as Richard shook their hand.

"Nice to meet you," Richard said."I was expecting Harold Canel."

"I am afraid Harold Canel is no longer with the company," said Bryon.

"Oh? Are you his replacement?" Richard asked.

"You could say that," Paul inserted. "Bryon is the new owner of SVP."

"Aren’t you a little young to own a multi-million dollar company?" Richard asked Bryon.

"I only look that way," Bryon said. "I am 28."

Richard laughed a little. "Thank God! For a moment I was afraid I was going to find out you were still in high school! Have a seat. Can I get anyone something to drink? We have a fresh pot of coffee, and in the fridge we have some tea and bottled water."

The other three turned down the drinks, so Richard took his seat at his desk. "So, how I can help you today?" he asked.

"We’re here to find out the status of our investment," Marcia said. "Have a look around and see how well things are going."

Richard sat back in his chair. "And if they’re not going well?" he asked.

"Then we will have to execute our option to take over," Bryon said.

"I see," Richard said, looking down at his desk. "Is there a way we can renegotiate that clause in the contract?"

"Are you saying there’s a problem?" Marcia asked.

"We are on budget," Richard replied. "In fact, we are significantly under budget, thanks to some favors I called in. But, due to the mortgage slump, we have not been able to get the number of buyers we had projected to have at this point. And as a result, I have had to slow construction down."

"How slow?" Bryon asked.

"I have only a minimal crew working. Basically, we are just trying to finish off those houses that had already been started, and not bothering with the rest of them," Richard explained. "If the whole economic mess clears up, we can restart construction, and start to really push the houses again."

"So what you are saying is that you have basically stopped construction," Paul said.

Richard gave a little snort and nodded his head. "Yeah, that’s what I am saying. But what I am asking is if there is any way we can renegotiate so that I can actually finish this project."

"How much have your other investors put into this project?" Bryon asked.

"Just under $25 million," Richard replied. "When it’s all done, I would owe them $30 million."

Bryon looked over at Marcia. "We have that much available?"

"Yes," she said. "But why would we need it?"

Bryon ignored the question and looked back at Richard. "I will give you the $30 million to pay off the other investors. Then it’s just you and me in this project. Once the other investors are paid off, get construction going back full force. Get it done under budget, without cutting corners, and you walk away with the remaining funds, plus a further $5 million from me. Then I take over and handle the issue of sales."

Richard just looked at him. "Make it $10 million and any remaining funds from construction and you have a deal."

"Done," Bryon said, reaching across the desk to shake Richards hand. "Paul will draw up the contract and send it over for your signature."

"Sounds good to me," Richard said.

"Now, if you will excuse us, we have some other meetings to get to," Bryon said, standing up and walking toward the door. "We’ll have to get the tour some other time."

"Any time," Richard said.

"Is tomorrow okay?" Marcia asked. "I would also like to review the books, if that is possible."

"Tomorrow will be just fine," Richard said with a smile as the three of them left the office. When he saw the Escalade drive away, Richard picked up the phone and called Frank. "The deal is done. SVP is buying everyone out, we finish construction as soon as possible, and walk away with a minimum of $10 million."

"In other words, you doubled your money," Frank said.

"Not quite the payoff I was expecting from this project, but doubling is better than losing it all."

IN THE ESCALADE…

"Would you mind explaining what the hell just happened in there?" Paul asked once Bryon started to drive away.

"I think I know," Marcia said. "By offering a further $40 million, Bryon not only took over the whole development project, but guaranteed that it would be finished."

"Exactly," Bryon said. "It hit me all at once. If we demanded to take over now, with a skeleton crew and the whole thing nowhere near finished, it never would be. We would never be able to get it off our hands. But if it’s finished when we take over, and pay off Richard for his portion of the project, we would be able to at least break even once all of the houses are sold."

Paul just nodded a bit. "Makes sense. But are you sure we are going to be able to get our money back? We’re supposed to be raising money, not spending it."

"How much would Richard have gotten if he had managed to sell all of the houses?" Bryon asked.

"Half a billion," Marcia replied.

"And including this new investment, how much are we invested into this project?"

"$140 million," Marcia said.

"So once we have sold off the houses, we’ll be ahead by $360 million," Bryon said. "I think that’s a pretty good return."

"Yes," Paul said. "But can we sell all of the houses for the full price?"

"1000 houses, starting at half a million," Bryon said. "We could cut the prices in half and still make a profit, Paul. This is a win for us. This will help to put the money that Harold stole back into the retirement plan, provided we haven’t replenished them with other deals first."

"It’s a pretty long term investment for someone who wanted to be out of this company in a year," Paul said.

"Then I guess I will just have to change my plans," Bryon said. "I can hang in there a few years longer if necessary."

"Sure," Paul said, smiling to himself as he looked out the side window. Looks like Bryon will be a bit better at this than I thought.