Chapter 5 - Forty Million Reasons
Forty million dollars was enough to explain Julian’s ambition.
It was not enough to explain the entire plan.
Hawthorne Crest did not pay executives forty million dollars for merely changing an opinion.
Denise dug deeper.
She found a draft consulting agreement hidden in Julian’s personal corporate archive.
If Sterling Meridian sold its logistics division to a Hawthorne affiliate, Julian would receive a “strategic transition fee” worth twenty million.
Another twenty million would be placed into equity in the acquiring company.
That made Julian’s incentive direct.
Illegal if undisclosed.
Potentially criminal if tied to fraud.
Thane sat in Denise’s conference room.
“So he planned to steal voting control, remove me, sell the division, and walk away with forty million.”
Denise nodded.
“That appears to be the structure.”
Alora asked, “Why not simply lobby the board?”
“Because Thane had enough votes to block a sale.”
“Through the Class A shares?”
“Yes.”
Thane owned thirty-six percent of Sterling Meridian’s Class A voting stock personally and controlled another fourteen percent through a family voting trust.
Fifty percent.
Not absolute ownership.
But enough to make a hostile strategic shift nearly impossible without him.
Julian needed his voting authority neutralized.
The incapacity scheme accomplished that.
Or would have.
If Thane boarded the Tokyo flight.
If Alora attended her prenatal appointment.
If Corrine and Sloan quietly retrieved the blue envelope.
If Malcolm inserted the false amendment.
If Dr. Pike signed the incapacity affidavits.
If Julian managed the board before Thane returned.
One missed flight destroyed a conspiracy built on timing.
But not all of it.
Julian still controlled access to corporate systems.
Thane ordered all his permissions suspended.
Too late.
Julian had already copied huge quantities of board material and wiped selected communications from his work devices.
The FBI entered the case after evidence suggested interstate wire fraud and corporate theft.
Julian’s apartment was empty.
His passport remained active.
No commercial departure record.
He had disappeared domestically.
Alora watched investigators move around them.
“Corrine knows where he is.”
Thane looked at her.
“Why?”
“She went pale when you said his name.”
“She could have been scared because she knew she’d been caught working with him.”
“No.”
Alora shook her head.
“Your mother was terrified of something else.”
Thane trusted her instincts.
Corrine’s criminal attorney requested a meeting.
She wanted to negotiate.
Thane refused to attend initially.
Alora surprised him.
“Go.”
“Why?”
“She’ll try to manipulate me.”
“Yes.”
“You’re encouraging this?”
“I’m encouraging you to listen.”
Corrine met prosecutors first.
Then Thane was permitted a brief conversation in a controlled setting with attorneys present.
His mother looked smaller without Sterling House behind her.
“You let them treat me like a criminal.”
“You committed crimes.”
“I was retrieving family property.”
“You were holding Alora by the hair.”
Corrine’s jaw tightened.
“She refused to cooperate.”
Thane stared.
Even now.
No apology.
“What did Julian promise you?”
Corrine looked away.
“Control of the family council.”
“There is no family council.”
“There would have been.”
“Based on forged documents.”
“I was told your father intended it.”
“By Julian.”
“And Malcolm.”
“Two men blackmailing each other.”
Corrine flinched.
Thane leaned forward.
“Where is Julian?”
“I don’t know.”
“Mom.”
She looked at him.
The word sounded strange after everything.
“He has copies.”
“Of what?”
“Messages. Recordings.”
“Yours?”
“Yes.”
“What did you do?”
Corrine’s silence answered.
Thane closed his eyes briefly.
“What else?”
“He knows about Sloan.”
“What about Sloan?”
Corrine swallowed.
“Your sister has been taking money from her trust early.”
“How?”
“She couldn’t.”
“Malcolm helped.”
Another crime.
Unauthorized advances disguised as investment reimbursements.
“How much?”
“Two point six million.”
Thane stared.
“And Julian found out.”
“Yes.”
“So he owned all of you.”
Corrine’s face hardened.
“Do not act superior. You built a family where everyone had to come to you for permission.”
Thane almost reacted.
Then stopped.
There was a grain of truth.
Not justification.
Truth.
He controlled distributions too tightly after his father died because he distrusted Corrine and Sloan.
He had reasons.
But control bred resentment.
“I may have made mistakes,” he said. “That doesn’t explain what you did to Alora.”
Corrine said nothing.
Thane stood.
Then she whispered, “Julian said if the plan failed, he had another route.”
Thane turned.
“What route?”
“He said the family documents were useful, but not essential.”
“What was essential?”
Corrine looked terrified again.
“The company debt.”
Thane’s stomach tightened.
May you like
“What about it?”
Corrine whispered, “He said he could make Sterling Meridian violate its banking covenants before Monday.”
