Chapter 6 - The Process Server
The Oakridge Country Club was my father's sanctuary. Even when his business was failing, he maintained his six-hundred-dollar-a-month membership so he could play golf with local businessmen and pretend he was part of the elite.
At 3:00 PM on Tuesday afternoon, my father was sitting on the outdoor terrace with three of his business associates, bragging about his daughter's recent marriage into the Vance empire.
A man in a sharp black suit walked up to the table holding a manila envelope.
"Thomas Donovan?" the process server asked loudly enough for the surrounding tables to hear.
My father frowned, setting his gin and tonic down. "Yes? Who are you?"
"You have been served with a federal civil lawsuit from the District Court of Northern Illinois, filed by Rachel Donovan," the server said loudly, placing the heavy stack of legal documents directly onto my father’s lunch plate, knocking over his drink.
The entire terrace went silent.
My father’s face turned bright purple. "What is this nonsense?!"
"The filing includes a motion for emergency freezing of all assets associated with Donovan Construction pending forensic accounting of embezzled funds," the server added clearly, before turning and walking away.
One of my father’s golf partners picked up the top page of the lawsuit.
"Tom..." his partner said, reading the document with wide eyes. "Your daughter is suing you for fraud? And Arthur Vance is listed as a material witness for the prosecution?"
My father grabbed the papers, his hands trembling violently as he read the formal charges.
May you like
Within thirty minutes, the country club manager approached my father’s table and quietly informed him that his membership privileges had been suspended pending the resolution of the federal charges.
He was escorted off the property in front of the very businessmen he had spent ten years trying to impress.
