Chapter 11 - The Trust
My mother stared at the ownership page. “I’ve never heard of this company.”
Richard spoke before anyone else could. “It’s held through a family trust. Evelyn is the named beneficiary.”
“I didn’t authorize a purchase,” she said.
“You didn’t need to. The trust has managers.”
Chloe leaned toward her attorney. He pointed to a signature authorizing a transfer from the trust into the new investment group.
Evelyn Sterling.
My mother shook her head. “That isn’t mine.”
I looked at Richard. “Another signature?”
“Be careful what you’re accusing me of.”
“You put my name on an affidavit I’d never seen.”
The directors began talking over one another. Malcolm asked for the meeting to pause while counsel reviewed both documents. Richard refused. Under the board rules, a majority could adjourn.
For the first time in my life, I raised my hand against my father.
Chloe raised hers. So did Malcolm. Two other directors followed.
The meeting ended without a vote.
In the hallway, Richard caught up with me. His face was controlled, but his voice wasn’t.
“You are risking the jobs of people who had nothing to do with Valerie.”
“I’ve talked to those people. They don’t want you selling their schools out from under them.”
“You think you can run this company without me?”
“I don’t know. I’m willing to find out.”
He turned away before I could see whether the answer had hurt him.
That afternoon, my mother sat down with investigators retained by the board. She handed over the recorder and admitted signing the letter to Valerie. She also gave them access to the trust records she had. I stayed outside with Chloe.
“You didn’t have to come,” I told her.
“I wanted to see this through.”
“You could still go to Cabo.”
A small, sad smile crossed her face. “I already canceled the villa.”
We had barely been married two days. I had no idea what we were to each other now.
Chloe’s phone buzzed. She read the message twice.
“What is it?”
“My mother says Richard called her last night. He told her to take my laptop from the wedding suite.”
“So she did scan the affidavit.”
“She says she didn’t know what it was. She’s coming here to explain.”
The elevator opened at the far end of the hallway. Chloe’s mother, Denise, stepped out holding the laptop bag.
Behind her came Richard’s chief of staff, Daniel, carrying a cardboard file box.
May you like
Denise saw us and stopped.
Daniel kept walking toward the records room.
