Chapter 8 - How Celia Found the Billion Dollar Number
Ruth found the leak.
It came from me.
Indirectly.
Three months before the highway, the confidential valuation arrived by encrypted email.
I printed twelve pages at home because I dislike reading long appendices on a screen.
The printer sat in my study.
Celia visited the next day.
She brought groceries.
Made tea.
Waited until I fell asleep in recliner.
My home security system later showed her entering the study.
She stayed eleven minutes.
Her phone cloud backup contained photographs.
Page four:
HIGH CASE RISK ADJUSTED RIGHTS VALUATION: $1.08 BILLION.
Page seven:
BLUE FANCY GRADE OCCURRENCE PRELIMINARY. CONTINUITY UNPROVEN.
Page nine:
MINERAL RIGHTS HELD BY BLACKRIDGE RESOURCES LLC.
She apparently understood page four better than page nine.
She sent photographs to Grant.
GRANT:
Holy shit.
CELIA:
She lied to us.
GRANT:
She said she was broke.
CELIA:
She’s hiding it.
GRANT:
It’s ours eventually.
CELIA:
Not if she sells first.
There.
Ours.
Not:
Ask Mother.
Not:
What does valuation mean?
Ours.
Grant contacted a mineral broker named Howard Venn.
Venn had worked small western mineral-right transactions for years.
Aggressive.
Not famous.
Not mastermind.
He reviewed photographed pages.
Told Grant a buyer might pay a large option deposit if title could be consolidated.
“What kind?” Grant asked.
“Five million if diligence supports.”
Five million now was more intoxicating than one billion theoretical later.
Venn said:
“Your mother has to sign.”
Grant:
“She will.”
Venn:
“If she’s incapacitated, lawful POA or guardianship.”
Grant:
“Understood.”
He did not understand.
Or did not care.
Celia formed CGR Holdings.
Celia.
Grant.
R? Owen’s middle? They called it CGR maybe Celia Grant Resources. Fine.
Grant promised Owen half a million from first option payment if he helped.
Celia expected two million.
Grant two.
Venn success fee.
The exact split changed in messages.
May you like
What did not change was one belief.
I was an obstacle.
