“It's delinquent.”
“How delinquent?”
“Seven months across modified terms.”
“Why was restructuring rejected?”
Marcus leaned back.
“Because the property has greater recovery value through enforcement.”
Victoria stared.
“That isn't what I asked.”
“Borrower couldn't satisfy revised debt-service requirements.”
“Did we offer interest-only?”
“No.”
“Maturity extension?”
“No.”
“Forbearance?”
“Short-term.”
“How short?”
“Ninety days.”
“Then what?”
“He missed the cure.”
Victoria looked at the redevelopment map.
“Marcus, is the foreclosure decision connected to assemblage?”
Silence.
Naomi looked down.
Marcus replied carefully.
“The asset is strategically useful.”
“That is not an answer.”
“Yes.”
Victoria's jaw tightened.
“Did you disclose that conflict when denying modification?”
“It isn't a conflict.”
“It absolutely is.”
“We own the debt.”
“Yes.”
“We have a duty to maximize recovery.”
“Not by pretending loan workout is the objective while internally preferring default.”
Marcus’s expression hardened.
“The borrower signed the documents.”
Victoria hated that sentence.
Legally clean.
Morally lazy.
“He owes the money.”
“Yes.”
“He failed to pay.”
“Yes.”
“So?”
“So our rights are not the same as our obligations.”
Marcus gave a small laugh.
“Victoria, with respect, this is distressed investing.”
“I founded the distressed group.”
“I know.”
“Then don’t explain my business to me.”
Silence.
Victoria continued.
“Pause the foreclosure.”
Marcus stared.
“On what basis?”
“Executive review.”
“For one garage?”
“For the portfolio.”
His expression changed.
“That could compromise the assemblage.”
“Yes.”
“We have eleven million already exposed.”
“I’m aware.”
“Why?”
Victoria looked at Daniel's foreclosure notice.
She could lie.
Claim routine compliance.
Portfolio review.
Governance.
Instead she said:
“Because I met the borrower.”
Marcus stared.
Naomi closed her eyes slightly.
Marcus leaned back.
“You met him?”
“Yes.”
“Socially?”
“No.”
“Then how?”
“He repaired my car.”
Silence.
“You're pausing an eleven-million-dollar strategy because your mechanic complained?”
Victoria felt anger rise.
Not because he insulted Daniel.
Because Marcus immediately understood the vulnerability.
“This conversation is over.”
“Victoria—”
“Pause every enforcement action on the seven parcels by noon.”
“That requires committee—”
“I chair the committee.”
“You also have a personal conflict now.”
That stopped her.
Marcus knew it.
He continued.
“You met Mercer. You have a relationship, however minor. If you intervene specifically to benefit him after personal contact, that can be characterized as preferential treatment.”
Naomi looked at Victoria.
Marcus was right.
Not fully.
Enough.