Chapter 5 - MONDAY MORNING
The merger was called the Northstar restructuring.
Ethan had approved the concept months earlier.
He had not seen the final voting package.
Richard handled it.
Of course he did.
Mara spread the documents across the dining table.
“Under the original trust, Sophie’s twenty-eight percent block cannot be converted without independent trustee approval.”
“And the altered version?”
“Richard can approve it as co-trustee during a temporary family emergency.”
Ethan felt cold.
“What emergency?”
Mara looked toward the Zurich tickets.
“A child suddenly removed from the country. A father distracted by a marital scandal. Questions about custody.”
Celeste’s affair was not separate from the financial plan.
It was part of the chaos.
Sophie sat with a female detective in the next room, coloring quietly.
Ethan watched through the doorway.
“She was supposed to be gone before Monday.”
Mara nodded.
“And if you discovered the affair?”
“I would have exploded.”
“Exactly.”
Richard knew Ethan’s temper.
Knew his grief.
Knew the press loved wealthy family scandals.
One bad weekend could create enough confusion to push a rushed vote through.
Then Mara opened Amelia’s letter.
Ethan,
If you are reading this, I was right to worry.
Richard has been moving money through a company called Halcyon Strategic Partners.
Ethan stopped.
Halcyon was advising the Northstar merger.
He kept reading.
I do not know whether he is stealing from the company or positioning himself to control it. I only know he asked me twice to change Sophie’s trust and became angry when I refused.
Mara had advised Amelia to preserve originals.
The blue box was insurance.
“Why didn’t Amelia tell me?” Ethan asked.
Mara’s answer hurt.
“She tried.”
Ethan looked up.
“When?”
“Three weeks before she died. You canceled the meeting.”
He remembered.
Tokyo acquisition.
Emergency flight.
He had sent flowers instead.
Mara slid one final sheet toward him.
It was Amelia’s handwritten meeting note.
May you like
At the bottom:
ETHAN STILL TRUSTS RICHARD MORE THAN HE TRUSTS MY FEAR.
