They Mocked His Old Car, His Clothes, His Pie… Then His Granddaughter Had Enough
Chapter 8
Walter took control formally.
The announcement shocked the business world.
Newspapers ran photographs of the same man who had sold pies from a battered pickup.
Some called him eccentric.
Others called him inexperienced.
Walter ignored all of them.
His first move was simple.
He met employees.
Hundreds of them.
He didn’t give a speech.
He listened.
A warehouse worker told him:
“People in headquarters don’t know our names.”
A driver said:
“They only call when something is late.”
A factory supervisor said:
“We haven’t had a proper maintenance budget in three years.”
Walter took notes.
Lily watched.
“Grandpa, you’re going to fix all of this?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then what are you doing?”
“Learning.”
His second move was riskier.
He opened the company’s books to an independent audit.
That included his own department.
No exceptions.
The audit found dozens of problems.
Waste.
Conflicts of interest.
Hidden contracts.
Executive bonuses.
And one major issue.
A subsidiary had been selling products below cost to a competitor.
Walter traced the arrangement.
Blackstone Agricultural Partners.
The same company that wanted control.
Walter sat back.
“They’ve been weakening us from inside.”
Jonathan nodded.
“How?”
“By making our numbers look worse.”
Lily asked:
“Can we prove it?”
“Yes.”
“Then do something.”
Walter smiled.
“I will.”
He called a press conference.
Reporters packed the room.
Walter stood in his worn jacket.
One reporter asked:
“Mr. Hayes, you have little corporate experience. Why should anyone trust you?”
Walter smiled.
“Don’t.”
The room went quiet.
“Trust the numbers when the audit is complete.”
Another reporter asked:
“Is it true you used to sell pies at a farmers’ market?”
“Yes.”
“Doesn’t that make you an unusual chairman?”
Walter shrugged.
“I suppose.”
“Why keep selling pies?”
Walter smiled.
“Because they’re good.”
Laughter filled the room.
Then he became serious.
“I’m not ashamed of where I came from.”
He looked into the cameras.
“Some people think expensive clothes make you important.”
A pause.
“They don’t.”
That clip spread across the country.
But Walter didn’t know the most important part was happening elsewhere.
Lily had found something.
She was reviewing old files from Rose.
A photograph.
Rose standing beside a group of executives.
One person had been partially cropped from the image.
Lily recognized him.
“Grandpa.”
Walter looked up.
“What?”
“This man.”
She pointed.
Walter stared.
It was Richard Cole.
But there was something else.
Behind him stood a woman.
Lily zoomed in.
Walter’s face went pale.
It was Cynthia Reed.
But the date was twenty years old.
Before she had married Franklin.
Lily looked at him.
“They knew each other before any of this.”
Walter nodded.
“Then we need to know why.”
The answer would uncover the final layer.
And it involved something Rose had never told Walter about.
A promise she had made twenty-five years earlier.
