Projected opening in the Design District.
The financing came through Lone Star Mercantile Bank.
I turned the page.
My name appeared near the bottom.
GREGORY HAYES.
Beside it was the address of my commercial warehouse on Harry Hines Boulevard.
Collateral.
Personal guarantor.
The dollar amount beside it was large enough that I read it three times.
Then I sat down on the study floor.
For a while, I did nothing.
Eventually, I carried the folder to the desk.
Some things deserve better light than the floor.
I switched on the lamp.
Read every page.
Slowly.
The way I read a commercial contract before putting Hayes Heating & Air beneath it.
The proposed expansion financing required security beyond Laura's existing business assets.
The documents assumed my warehouse would be pledged as collateral.
They also referenced my existing personal guarantee connected to Laurel Row's earlier financing.
The final pledge documents had not been signed.
That mattered.
I did not understand exactly how much it mattered yet.
But I knew my name was being used inside a transaction I had never agreed to.
Near the back sat a draft operating agreement for the expansion entity.
Members:
Laura Hayes.
Sixty percent.
Daniel Voss.
Forty percent.
Daniel's proposed contribution was modest compared with the loan.
His value, according to the documents, seemed to be strategy, banking relationships, business development, and access to investors.
My value was apparently different.
My building.
My credit.
My signature.
I read the pages again.
The structure was simple enough even before a lawyer explained it.
If the expansion succeeded, Daniel owned forty percent.
If the expansion failed badly enough, the people standing behind the debt were not arranged in the same proportions.
I thought about Laura's toast.
Someone better.
A man with vision.
A man who understood growth.