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She stared past me to the street and furrowed her brow. “Is that Mr. Carter’s truck?” I stopped in front of the hood and gave her a withering look. “Right.” She nodded, running her hand through Gabriel’s hair. “Drive safe.”
I climbed into the truck then watched them waving as I drove away. That wasn’t quite the disaster I’d envisioned. Hell, if she was coming with me to New York, some of my tension was already eased. But I had one more stop to make before leaving town. That wasn’t going to go nearly as smoothly.
Chapter Six
Easton
“What doyou mean I no longer have access to these bank accounts? I’m the chief financial officer.”
I paced the bedroom of the corporate jet bound for Burdett, grateful for the engine’s noise so my parents didn’t hear my raised voice.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Carter, but you aren’t listed as someone I can discuss Carter Energy’s account with.”
“That’s hogwash, and you know it, Christopher. How long have you been manager of the bank?” I challenged, digging in my briefcase until my fingers landed on the heart-shaped stress ball Mulaney gave me as a joke. I never went anywhere without it.
“This has nothing to do with our history. I have a responsibility for account security—”
“Oh yeah? You’ve told me whatever I wanted to know in the past, so I don’t get how pulling reports for me now is a security threat.” Squeeze. Release. Squeeze. Release. The motion did nothing to curb my stress but it was better than punching something. It was Christmas Eve, for God’s sake. I should be singing Jingle Bells instead of arguing with the bank manager.
“Mr. Carter, you had access to the information prior to the sale—”
“Do I have access to my own personal account? Or has that changed too?”
Fingers on a keyboard clacked in the background, and I gripped the heart so hard, I was surprised it didn’t disintegrate.
“What can I help you with on that account?” That calm tone reserved for bank managers grated on my nerves.
“You really had to check to see if I was authorized on my own account? What the hell has happened at that bank?” I glanced toward the oval window of the plane and wished I could open it. The air had gone stale and was stifling.
Christopher cleared his throat. “We’ve had some recent changes. This is protocol.”
“Are you sure you don’t need an eye scan and a thumbprint?”
“I’m happy to provide any information you require regarding your personal—”
I hung up and tossed the phone on the bed. SPE certainly hadn’t wasted any time changing the power structure. Had they pulled Dad’s clearance too, or just mine? Everything was happening so fast, I wondered if he even knew. I looked at the stress ball, the smiley face printed on it mocking me.
If I didn’t have access to our bank accounts any longer, was I really the CFO? Then again, we’d sold. No one had said that was still my role in our division. I’d made the cardinal sin of assuming.
I still had access to all the accounts through EXODUS, the software program Drew had written so I could manage our financials in one place. Early on, he’d seen my frustration at having to log in to so many different places on a daily basis. The software pulled information from every institution and housed our internal reports. He’d named it that because he said the program would be the flight of my stress. He’d been right to a degree.
I’d barely slept last night, scouring through everything I had to see where I’d made the mistake when it occurred to me to go directly to the bank as a cross-check. I still couldn’t find the massive loss that had driven my father to sell our company to our competitor. Things weren’t the best, but we weren’t down enough for drastic action. We’d prepared for tough times.
Mulaney had hedged our investments, pushing us to diversify beyond oil into other energy segments. Her vision had propelled us forward, not toward dire straits. She’d been the right choice as interim CEO when Dad had stepped aside to spend more time with Mama.
We’d all come to work at Carter Energy straight after graduating from college. I had a couple years’ head start on Mulaney, though she’d always seemed light years ahead of me when it came to the oil business. She lived and breathed it. Her passion was contagious, and even after all these years, she had an unrelenting fire. It was why she was so successful, not only with the company but in her personal investments too.
But she’d been a distraction for me. One I was beginning to believe may have cost me the legacy I thought we were building together. She was so damn stubborn, and I was fool enough to think I could be the one to change her. In reality, she was the one who had changed me. I’d been soft when it came to her and allowed her to get away with far too much. That stopped now.
“Easton.” My mother ducked her head in the bedroom. “We’re landing soon.”
I dropped the stress ball back into my briefcase and put my phone in my pocket. Mama grabbed my discarded suit jacket from the bed and offered it to me. As I took it, I opened my mouth to ask her if she knew if Dad’s access to the bank accounts had been revoked too before I thought better of it. She had enough to deal with as it was.
“Quick trip, wasn’t it?” I draped an arm around her frail shoulders as we wandered toward the main cabin.
“I’m ready to be there,” she said tiredly, stopping just before we reached the opening to the sitting area where Dad was reading the paper.
“Me too. I’ve missed Grandma Carter. I could use a piece of her red velvet cake right about now.” The thought was bittersweet. Usually Drew and I made a beeline for her kitchen the second we got to her house. Grandma Carter was hard on us, but she spoiled us rotten too.
