Chapter 7 - The House With Lucas’s Window
Damian wanted to rush home.
Shaw refused.
“That is exactly what they want.”
“My son’s bedroom is in that photograph.”
“And whoever took it expects panic.”
Damian paced.
“What if someone is inside?”
“Rhode Island State Police are clearing the property.”
“I should be there.”
“No.”
Damian looked ready to argue.
Lucas touched his sleeve.
“Dad.”
He stopped.
“I’m okay here.”
Damian looked down.
His six-year-old son was learning to manage his father.
That realization hurt.
“Okay,” he said.
Elena watched from the bed.
“Good.”
Police found no intruder at the estate.
But a landscaping gate had been opened with a valid staff code.
The code belonged to Damian’s executive assistant, Caroline West.
Damian stared at the report.
“She knows that code because she organizes household schedules.”
Shaw said, “She also approved Harbor Meridian payments.”
“Bring her in.”
“We already requested an interview.”
Caroline arrived with counsel.
She cried almost immediately.
“I didn’t know about Elena.”
Damian watched through one-way glass.
Shaw asked, “What did you know?”
“Adrian said Harbor Meridian was a special acquisition vehicle.”
“Why did you approve invoices?”
“Damian delegated certain approvals.”
Damian swore quietly.
That was true.
His management style had been speed.
Delegate.
Sign.
Move.
He rarely reviewed transactions under five million.
Adrian knew that.
Caroline continued.
“I gave Adrian household information.”
“What information?”
“Travel. Staff schedules. Security codes sometimes.”
“Why?”
“He was family.”
Shaw asked, “Did you give him Lucas’s bedroom information?”
“No.”
“Who else had access to household schedules?”
Caroline hesitated.
“Celeste.”
Damian closed his eyes.
Of course.
After the interview, Caroline approached Damian.
“I’m sorry.”
He looked at her.
“For being careless or for being caught?”
She flinched.
He regretted the cruelty.
“Sorry.”
Caroline stared.
“You never say that.”
“I’m learning.”
She wiped her eyes.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Adrian asked me about Elena’s life-insurance policy after she disappeared.”
Damian frowned.
Elena carried a $25 million key-person and personal policy because of her role as Vale Oceanic’s former general counsel.
“No death certificate was issued.”
“I know.”
“He asked how long before she could be declared legally dead.”
Damian’s stomach tightened.
Under Rhode Island law, a missing person generally required years before a presumption of death, though specific circumstances could affect proceedings.
“He wanted to know if the company could accelerate anything?”
“Yes.”
“What did you say?”
“That only courts could determine status.”
“Did he ask about her shares?”
Caroline looked down.
Damian understood.
Elena owned eight percent of Vale Oceanic.
Those shares had remained frozen within her estate planning structure because she was missing, not legally dead.
Her voting rights were exercised by a temporary fiduciary.
If she were declared dead, her shares would pass largely into a marital and family trust.
Damian would become trustee.
But a separate provision required independent co-trustee approval while Lucas was a minor.
“Who is the co-trustee?” Shaw asked.
Damian already knew.
“Adrian.”
Silence.
Elena looked at him.
“That was Vincent’s idea.”
Damian’s late father had built the trust before his death.
Adrian had been appointed because he was family.
Shaw said, “If Elena had been declared dead, Adrian would gain influence over her eight percent.”
“And Lucas’s seventeen,” Damian added.
“Why?”
“Lucas’s trust also names Adrian as backup corporate trustee if I become incapacitated or removed for cause.”
Elena went pale.
“Removed as CEO?”
“No. Removed as trustee.”
“How?”
“Court order. incapacity. misconduct.”
Shaw looked at him.
“An assault allegation?”
Damian froze.
Celeste’s complaint suddenly looked different.
Not merely retaliation.
If she could portray Damian as violent and unstable, Adrian might try to remove him as trustee.
Adrian’s direct twenty-one percent plus influence over Elena’s eight and Lucas’s seventeen could place forty-six percent of Vale Oceanic under his control.
Enough, with a few allied directors, to dominate the company.
The kidnapping.
The forged signature.
The assault setup.
The Monday transaction.
All of it connected.
Elena whispered, “Celeste wanted you to hit her.”
Damian remembered the cabin.
Her taunting.
Her refusal to back away.
His hands.
He felt ill.
“She threatened Lucas because she needed the card.”
“Yes,” Elena said. “But once you came in, she had another opportunity.”
Damian looked at his son.
His worst mistake aboard the Aurelia had not only been moral.
It had been strategically useful to the conspiracy.
His phone rang.
Martin Keene.
“Damian, Adrian just filed in Rhode Island family court.”
“For what?”
May you like
Martin paused.
“To temporarily remove you as trustee of Lucas’s Vale family shares on the grounds of violent conduct and impaired judgment.”
