Page 11 of Sacked
I clenched my teeth. “Not everyone is born with a silver spoon.”
“When Reid and Rachel were children, they were middle class—average. Carroll was lower, blue collar, no college.”
“I’ve read the story. Carroll and Mary Hubbard made their initial investment in McDonald’s. They worked hard and moved on.”
“It takes three-quarters of the league’s owners to approve the sale of a franchise. Who the fuck do you think knew Carroll Hubbard in 1978?”
“What does this have to do with Vee being in trouble?”
“Hear me out.” Clark was in a zone. “Carroll Hubbard and Blaine Marsh, Darin’s father, were casual friends. Blaine was a renowned financier for Dean Coulson. Meadow Farms had a long relationship with their firm as did prominent companies and individuals, including many NFL franchise owners. Carroll wanted to own a team, but there was no way a first-generation millionaire would be allowed into the elite NFL. Hell, history shows that they can squeeze out anyone they don’t want. Carroll Hubbard needed someone on the inside.”
“Blaine.”
Chapter 5
Fin
* * *
Clark nodded. “In 1978, the firms of Dean Coulson and Rolston Securities merged. Dean Coulson Rolston was created. It has since become one of the top five brokerage and private equity firms in the U.S. They did that by making wealthy clients wealthier. Carroll’s negotiations were just before this big merger.”
My forehead furrowed. “In 1978, Reid would have been a teenager.”
“Yeah. The dealings were Carroll’s, not Reid’s. Blaine Marsh made a deal with Carroll Hubbard. He would facilitate getting Carroll Hubbard approved by the required number of owners, and Blaine would quietly invest in the purchase.”
“Quietly? Is there record of this transaction?”
“I spoke to my father about it after Reid’s passing. From what Roger Coke, Dad’s fixer, could learn, theirs was a gentleman’s agreement. Blaine inflated the value of various McDonald’s franchises on paper. Funds were transferred from account to account. There was no evidence of Blaine’s investment, but that didn’t mean he ever let Carroll forget his debt.
The first requirement was to arrange marriage between Blaine’s son and Carroll’s daughter, Darin Marsh and Rachel Hubbard.”
“This story is far-fetched.”
“From what I could figure out,” Clark said, “that relationship between Rachel and Darin happened mostly organically. The fathers introduced the two when they were still young.” Clark shrugged. “I don’t know if Rachel knows that her proposal came with the promise of franchise ownership.”
“But Carroll didn’t leave the franchise to Rachel. He left it all to Reid.”
Clark nodded. “Carroll’s final double cross to Blaine Marsh, who was still alive at the time to feel the blade sink into his chest. Blaine and Carroll had a falling out. Carroll Hubbard wasn’t screwing his daughter out of her inheritance; he was screwing Blaine Marsh and at the same time, Darin and his children.”
“Did Reid know about this?” I waited for Clark’s answer, unsure if anything he was saying was true.
He looked down into his bourbon and inhaled. Looking up, he shrugged. “I guess we’ll never know exactly what Reid knew. He made a point of keeping the Marshes involved. Whether that was because he knew the deal his father made, or he felt guilty that Rachel hadn’t been given her fair share, we’ll never know.
“Darin wanted more. He’d been promised more. He and Grant were pushing for the change to the will. Fuck, I heard whispers when I first entered that den of vipers. By the time I exited, the whispers were much louder and bolder.”
I was too stunned to reply.
Was this family history true or the thing of rumors?
“Does Vee know any of what you just told me?”
“I don’t fucking know,” Clark said. “Everything Vee ever said about the Hubbards and Coopers was her version, seen through her rose-colored glasses and double-dipped in glitter.”
I gritted my teeth. Vee was many things, and I’d missed many years of her life, but impractical or overly optimistic didn’t describe her.
“My guess,” Clark said, “was that Reid didn’t want her to know the darker side of her family history.” He arched an eyebrow. “I’m telling you so you can tell her.”
“Tell her what? I heard something about your family. Maybe your grandfather took dark money to buy the Coopers. Oh, and your aunt was the downpayment on the payout before she was screwed out of her inheritance as a payback to your uncle’s father; that’s why only you inherited the Coopers.”
