Chapter 9 - The Price of a Family Name
Julian did not deny owning Northstar.
He called the transactions legitimate.
“Family assets move between family vehicles all the time.”
Victoria sat across from him in the Sinclair boardroom.
Adrian sat to her left.
Graham’s chair was empty.
Julian looked at it once.
Then back at Victoria.
“You destroyed your engagement over a lawyer doing his job.”
“He falsified evidence.”
“He protected the company.”
“He helped frame Luke Carter.”
Julian shrugged.
“A junior treasury employee who signed a plea agreement.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
Victoria noticed.
“What did Luke discover?”
Julian leaned back.
“I have no idea.”
“Aster Lane.”
“You keep saying that name as if repetition makes it criminal.”
“Eighty-six million dollars.”
“Across five years.”
“Into entities you control.”
“Into investments.”
“Disclosed where?”
Julian smiled faintly.
“You really did inherit Richard’s temper.”
Victoria did not rise to it.
She had spent years thinking coldness was self-control.
Now she understood there was another form.
Patience.
“Why did Graham prepare a memo on what happened if I died?”
“Estate planning.”
“Why did he send it to Radnor?”
Julian’s smile vanished.
Victoria pushed forward.
“You promised them control of BioDiagnostics after my death.”
“I promised nothing.”
“Then why did they model the transaction under your voting control?”
“Ask them.”
“We are.”
Julian looked at Adrian.
“And you.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
“You were very eager to become useful when your cousin stopped trusting you.”
“My cousin has never trusted me.”
“That was not an accident.”
Adrian stared at his father.
For the first time, Victoria saw something personal beneath the corporate rivalry.
Julian had spent years keeping his son and niece suspicious of one another.
Two heirs.
Two factions.
One older man positioned between them.
Adrian whispered, “You wanted us fighting.”
Julian laughed.
“Grow up.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“Because it is beneath answering.”
Victoria watched Adrian absorb the same tactic Julian used on everyone.
Dismiss.
Belittle.
Redirect.
Then Julian looked at Victoria.
“You have an opportunity to stop this.”
“How?”
“Withdraw the external forensic audit.”
“No.”
“Reinstate privileged control under legal.”
“Graham is under criminal investigation.”
“Appoint another lawyer.”
“Independent.”
“Fine.”
“And?”
“Stop giving police unrestricted access to family records.”
Victoria almost smiled.
“There it is.”
Julian stood.
“You are turning a family problem into a public execution.”
“Someone tried to execute me.”
Julian’s face went still.
Victoria continued.
“A four-year-old stopped it.”
For the first time, Julian looked uncomfortable.
“Children do not belong in this.”
“Someone searched Ellie’s room for her EpiPen.”
“That was Edmund.”
“And who sent him?”
Julian picked up his folder.
“We are done.”
Victoria remained seated.
“No.”
He stopped.
“My trust amendment was stolen because someone needed you to inherit my voting block.”
Julian turned.
Victoria’s voice stayed quiet.
“You knew I was changing it.”
He said nothing.
“You knew I would sign Friday.”
Silence.
Victoria leaned back.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For not denying it quickly enough.”
Julian left.
Adrian exhaled.
“He’ll call an emergency board vote.”
“He already did.”
“What?”
Victoria handed him the notice.
Julian proposed removing Victoria as chief executive pending a “medical, criminal, and governance crisis review.”
Adrian stared.
“He wants you out.”
“He wants access.”
“To what?”
“Everything Graham used to control.”
Adrian looked at her.
“Can he win?”
Victoria checked the director list.
“Maybe.”
That evening Hannah visited Luke in federal prison with his new independent attorney.
Victoria did not attend.
She had no right.
Luke Carter was thirty-four.
Thin.
Older than Hannah remembered.
When Ellie appeared on the video screen from a supervised family room, Luke broke down.
“Daddy?”
He covered his mouth.
Hannah began crying.
Ellie held Rosie against the glass.
“I saved a lady.”
Luke laughed and cried at the same time.
“I heard.”
“She’s bossy.”
Hannah nearly choked.
Luke smiled.
“I heard that too.”
Then the attorney discussed Graham’s proffer.
Luke listened.
When he heard Aster Lane, his expression changed.
“There’s more.”
“What?” Hannah asked.
“I kept something.”
His attorney leaned forward.
“What?”
“A copy of the original transfer authorization.”
“Where?”
Luke looked at Hannah.
“You remember the blue cookbook?”
Hannah frowned.
Then froze.
Their old apartment had a Betty Crocker cookbook Luke used to hide spare cash.
She still had it in storage.
Luke said, “Inside the spine.”
Hannah drove there that night with her attorney and Detective Chen.
Inside the torn binding they found a micro-SD card.
Forensics examined it under warrant and counsel supervision.
The card contained original treasury exports.
Aster Lane transfers.
Original emails.
And an audio file.
Luke had recorded a meeting three years earlier.
Graham’s voice.
Julian’s voice.
And Edmund’s.
Julian said:
“The Carter boy takes the plea, or we make his wife part of it.”
Graham replied:
“He has a baby.”
Julian answered:
“Then he has motivation.”
Hannah sat down and sobbed.
But the recording was not finished.
Luke’s voice asked:
“What are you protecting?”
Julian answered:
“Something worth more than your entire life.”
Then Edmund spoke.
“Sir, Miss Victoria may find the reserve account.”
May you like
Julian replied with the sentence that connected Luke’s case to Victoria’s poisoning three years later.
“Then when she does, we deal with Victoria too.”
