Warren had been granted a one-day event license under strict conditions.
He was not permitted to claim ownership.
He was not permitted to use the estate as collateral.
He was not permitted to represent the property as part of his personal assets.
Any violation triggered immediate termination of the license, full financial liability for the event, and enforcement of the personal guarantee he had signed while begging my parents for a three-hundred-thousand-dollar investment.
There had never been an investment.
Only paperwork Warren had been too arrogant to read.
By the time he finished the first page, the second envelope arrived.
This one was carried by a process server in a gray suit.
The quartet stopped playing.
The fountain kept running.
A hundred guests watched Warren Caldwell’s greatest achievement dissolve in his hands.
“You can’t serve me at my own party,” Warren snapped.
The process server glanced at the columns, the gardens, the catered tents, and the guests holding crystal glasses.
