Chapter 10 - Thomas Carter’s Last Secret
Thomas Carter’s former attorney lived in Santa Barbara.
Daniel drove there before sunrise.
Elena came with him.
For two hours neither said much.
Finally Elena asked, “Did Dad ever tell you he was changing the agreement?”
“No.”
“You were with him every day.”
“Not every day.”
“You were his favorite.”
Daniel stared at the highway.
“You were his daughter.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“No.”
He gripped the steering wheel.
“I don’t think he had a favorite.”
Elena laughed sadly.
“He gave you the company.”
“He gave me responsibility.”
“He gave me less.”
Daniel finally looked at her.
“And I spent twenty years pretending that didn’t hurt you.”
Silence filled the car.
“I’m sorry.”
Elena looked out the window.
“You always apologize after you’ve decided what everyone else should feel.”
Daniel accepted that.
At eleven they sat across from Harold Bennett, eighty-one, retired attorney, sharp-eyed despite his cane.
“Yes,” Harold said. “Thomas signed a supplemental memorandum.”
“Why didn’t we receive it?” Daniel asked.
“You did.”
Daniel frowned.
Harold pointed to him.
“Your father instructed me to place it in a sealed packet aboard Aurelia.”
Elena stared.
“The yacht?”
“He believed company offices had become politically unsafe.”
“Politically?”
Harold looked at them.
“Thomas suspected someone inside Carter Maritime was leaking acquisition information.”
Daniel’s heart quickened.
“This was six years ago.”
“Yes.”
“Adrian joined five years ago.”
“Then your current problem may have older roots.”
Daniel and Elena exchanged a look.
“Who did Dad suspect?” Elena asked.
Harold hesitated.
“Owen Price.”
Daniel felt as if the room lost air.
“Owen was his CFO too.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t Dad fire him?”
“Because suspicion is not proof.”
Harold stood slowly and opened an old file cabinet.
He removed a handwritten note.
“Thomas asked me to prepare a mechanism protecting Seagate if either sibling became compromised.”
Elena stiffened.
“Compromised how?”
“Debt, coercion, divorce, incapacity, fraud.”
“What does it do?”
Harold looked at her.
“It does not transfer ownership.”
Relief flickered across her face.
“It temporarily suspends voting authority over Seagate only if a court determines a sibling’s vote was obtained through fraud, duress, or undisclosed financial interest.”
Daniel exhaled.
“So Adrian lied.”
“About forfeiture, yes.”
“Who receives temporary authority?”
Harold looked at Daniel.
“An independent trustee.”
“Who?”
“Captain Miguel Reyes.”
Both siblings stared.
“Reyes?” Daniel asked.
Harold nodded.
“Your father trusted him.”
Daniel almost smiled.
Of course Thomas had.
Captain Reyes had once been an engineer aboard one of Carter Maritime’s earliest cargo vessels. Thomas had helped him through immigration paperwork, then promoted him into private marine operations.
“Where is the original memorandum?” Elena asked.
“In the packet I placed aboard Aurelia.”
Daniel’s stomach dropped.
“The same safe.”
“Yes.”
Adrian had opened Thomas’s packet.
But Daniel remembered what had remained inside.
The handwritten letter.
He called Reyes.
“Captain, bring my father’s letter to Nora’s office. Do not open it.”
Reyes paused.
“Sir, I need to tell you something.”
“What?”
“The letter has a false back.”
Daniel stopped.
“What?”
“I noticed when I moved it into secure storage. The cardboard backing is thicker than normal.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Thomas.
Even dead, still mistrustful enough to hide the real document behind the document.
Two hours later they opened the backing in Nora’s office.
Inside was a folded notarized memorandum.
The Supplemental Family Governance Memorandum.
Original signatures.
Thomas Carter.
Harold Bennett.
Two witnesses.
Article Four appointed Miguel Reyes as temporary special voting trustee if a court found fraud or coercion concerning Seagate.
Elena laughed through tears.
“Dad trusted the captain more than us.”
Harold, participating by video, corrected her.
“No. He trusted the captain to protect you from yourselves.”
Daniel read the final handwritten line.
It was not part of the legal instrument.
Thomas had added it beneath his signature.
Daniel protects by controlling. Elena protects by believing. Both can be used against you. Learn the difference between love and possession.
Neither sibling spoke.
Then Nora’s phone rang.
Western Pacific’s counsel.
After the call, she looked grim.
“The bank is unfreezing Harbor Crest’s credit line.”
Daniel stood.
“Why?”
“Adrian produced an independent legal opinion claiming Carter Maritime’s accusations are part of a family dispute.”
“From whom?”
Nora turned her screen.
The opinion had been issued by a prestigious Los Angeles firm.
Its client representative was Owen Price.
And attached was a board resolution scheduled for Friday.
If adopted, Daniel would be suspended as CEO.
Owen would become interim chief executive.
Adrian’s Seagate sale would be voted immediately afterward.
Elena looked at Daniel.
“We have the original memorandum.”
Nora nodded.
“But invoking it requires a court finding.”
“How quickly?”
“Not before Friday unless we get emergency relief.”
Daniel stared at the date.
Forty-eight hours.
Then Claire called.
Her voice was shaking.
“Daniel, reporters are outside.”
“Where are you?”
“At the foundation office.”
“What happened?”
“They have the transfer records.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
May you like
Adrian had used Claire.
And now he was about to destroy her publicly.
