Chapter 8 - What Sarah Knew.
Emily had imagined many explanations for her father's secrecy.
She had never imagined that one.
"Mom was planning to leave you?"
Gregory looked at the photograph on his desk instead of at Emily.
"She was considering it."
"When?"
"The year before she died."
Emily's memories of that year came back in disconnected flashes.
Sarah working late.
Gregory sleeping in the guest room for a few weeks.
Quiet breakfasts where both parents seemed to be waiting for the other to speak.
Emily had been thirteen.
She had assumed adults were simply tired.
"Why?" she asked.
Gregory rubbed his forehead.
"We disagreed about money."
Natalie gave a bitter laugh.
"That seems to be a pattern."
Gregory ignored her.
"Sarah wanted to place more assets beyond my management."
"Including the Calder shares?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because she thought I was too aggressive."
Thomas shifted near the doorway.
Emily noticed it.
"Too aggressive with what?"
Gregory looked at Thomas.
"This is family history."
Thomas answered anyway.
"Your father was expanding Carter Financial rapidly at the time."
"Using debt?"
"Among other tools."
Emily turned back to Gregory.
"Mom didn't trust you with the shares."
"Your mother did not understand the pressure I was under."
"She understood enough to put them in my trust."
Gregory's jaw tightened.
"She put them there because we were fighting."
Emily looked at the letter in her hand.
Choose your own life.
The sentence suddenly carried an entirely different weight.
Sarah had not only been leaving advice for her daughter.
She had been building a door.
"Did she know you might try to get the shares back?"
Gregory stepped closer.
"I never tried to steal anything from you."
"You hid the terms of the trust."
"I simplified them."
"You opened her letter."
"I was the executor of her estate."
"And you kept it nine years."
Gregory had no answer for that.
Natalie reached for the flash drive again.
"I want to know what this is."
Gregory looked at her.
"It has nothing to do with Sarah."
"It has my name on it."
Thomas sighed.
"Natalie, if the drive was created for you or contains an agreement involving you, there may be a legitimate basis to review it with independent counsel."
Gregory laughed sharply.
"Independent counsel?"
"Yes."
"At midnight on our wedding night?"
Natalie's face remained still.
"You brought your lawyer to the reception with documents for Emily to sign."
Gregory had no response.
Thomas placed the drive on the desk.
"Nobody should open it tonight."
Emily nodded.
"Fine."
Natalie did not.
"I know someone."
"A lawyer?" Thomas asked.
"My cousin Rachel."
Gregory looked alarmed.
"Absolutely not."
Natalie picked up her phone.
"Rachel practices family and contract law."
"Your cousin has spent years looking for reasons to dislike me."
"She met you twice."
"Exactly."
Natalie walked into the hall and placed the call.
Gregory watched her leave.
Emily studied him.
"Did Mom ever tell you what she wanted me to do with the Calder shares?"
"No."
Emily raised the letter.
"She wrote that they belonged to my future."
"Sarah wrote many emotional things when she was sick."
Emily's expression hardened.
"Don't do that."
"Do what?"
"Make her sound confused because you don't like what she said."
Gregory looked away.
The room fell quiet.
Then Thomas's phone vibrated.
He checked the screen.
His expression changed.
"What is it?" Emily asked.
Thomas held up one finger and answered.
"Vale speaking."
He listened.
"When?"
Another pause.
"Who authorized it?"
Gregory turned toward him.
Thomas's face became more serious with every second.
"Do not process anything until I review the paperwork," he said.
He ended the call.
"What happened?" Natalie asked from the hallway.
Thomas looked directly at Gregory.
"The trustee office received a transfer instruction this afternoon."
Emily felt the room contract around her.
"Transfer of what?"
Thomas answered carefully.
"The Calder shares."
Emily's heart thudded.
"To where?"
Thomas kept his eyes on Gregory.
"To Carter Strategic Holdings."
Natalie frowned.
"Who owns that?"
Thomas did not answer immediately.
May you like
Gregory did.
"I do."
