Chapter 13 - THE RED BOOK
Ethan’s father kept one physical ledger of original shareholder agreements.
Not legally controlling by itself.
But historically priceless.
It documented why the family trust was structured the way it was.
The book disappeared after Amelia’s funeral.
Everyone assumed Ethan misplaced it during renovations.
Sophie remembered seeing Amelia hide it.
“Where?”
“In Bunny’s house.”
Bunny was her stuffed rabbit.
But “Bunny’s house” meant the little play cottage Amelia built in the garden.
Under one floorboard they found a waterproof case.
Inside was the red ledger.
And another letter.
Amelia had written it while sick.
She explained that Ethan’s father deliberately kept Richard’s branch of the family away from trust control after a prior dispute.
Richard was not just an ambitious CFO.
His father had once tried to force a sale of family shares and lost.
Richard grew up believing Hale Biomedical had been stolen from his side of the family.
That grievance had become a plan.
The ledger contained minutes from a meeting twenty-five years earlier.
Richard’s father agreed, in writing, that neither he nor his descendants would serve as trustee over the founder shares.
The altered Northstar structure violated that agreement.
Mara smiled for the first time in two days.
“This gives the independent directors a reason to kill Northstar without touching the criminal case.”
Ethan looked at Sophie.
She was sitting on the grass holding Bunny.
Amelia had hidden legal history inside a child’s playhouse because she knew adults would search offices first.
Then Ethan noticed something on the last page.
A handwritten note from his father.
RICHARD KNOWS ABOUT THIS BOOK.
IF IT DISAPPEARS, CHECK THE TRUST COPIES IN TORONTO.
Toronto.
The same city in Richard’s travel searches.
Mara grabbed her phone.
“There is a Canadian custodian holding certified copies.”
Richard was not running randomly.
May you like
He was heading toward the last archive that could prove his family had no trustee rights.
And the next flight to Toronto left in ninety minutes.
