Chapter 7 - Thirty-Four PercentElise Rowan spread three documents across the conference table.
“Here is what Naomi actually signed.”
Adrian scanned the first.
“I hate legal language.”
“That’s because legal language remembers what people conveniently forget.”
Danielle sat beside him.
Adrian’s older sister had arrived at the hospital the night of the incident and had not left Junie alone since.
She pointed at one paragraph.
“Explain this like we’re stupid.”
“You’re not.”
“Pretend Adrian is.”
“Thank you,” Adrian muttered.
Elise ignored them.
“Naomi’s trust owns thirty-four percent of Brooks Marine Technologies. Adrian personally owns twenty-nine percent. Marcus owns seven. Employees and other investors hold the remainder.”
Danielle frowned.
“So Adrian doesn’t control the company by himself.”
“No.”
“Then how has he been running it?”
“Consensus. Board support. Voting agreements.”
Adrian leaned back.
“Until Northstar.”
“Correct.”
Northstar Capital’s acquisition offer had fractured the board.
Some directors wanted the money.
Adrian wanted independence.
Marcus publicly claimed neutrality.
Adrian no longer believed that.
Elise continued.
“Junie is the beneficial owner of Naomi’s trust. Until Junie turns twenty-five, the shares cannot be sold without approval from both trustees.”
“Who are the trustees?”
“You and me.”
Danielle looked at Adrian.
“You never mentioned this.”
“I knew Elise was involved.”
“That is not the same sentence.”
Adrian snapped, “I’ve had a difficult week, Dani.”
“And for the last four years?”
That shut him up.
Danielle softened.
“I’m not attacking you. I’m telling you something Naomi would tell you if she were sitting here.”
“What?”
“You outsource the things that scare you.”
Adrian looked down.
She was right.
After Naomi died, he had placed everything connected to her into mental boxes.
Estate.
Trust.
Foundation.
Grief.
He signed where Elise told him to sign.
Then returned to work.
Because businesses had numbers.
Grief had none.
Elise tapped the second document.
“This is the copy Corinne requested.”
Adrian looked up.
“She received the real trust?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because she had no legal right to it.”
“So what did she get?”
“A public summary of holdings and governance restrictions.”
“Then how did she learn about the death provision?”
Elise slid over the third document.
“She may have received this.”
It looked official.
Brooks Marine letterhead.
Trust summary.
Several paragraphs.
One sentence highlighted:
Upon the death of the beneficiary before age eighteen, voting and beneficial control revert to Adrian Brooks or his estate.
Adrian stared.
“That’s false.”
“Completely.”
“Who wrote it?”
“I don’t know.”
Danielle leaned forward.
“The company logo is old.”
Adrian noticed it too.
Brooks Marine had changed its branding fourteen months earlier.
“That document was made before the redesign.”
Elise nodded.
“Likely.”
“Marcus would have had access.”
“So would a dozen executives.”
Adrian stood and paced.
“If Corinne believed this…”
Danielle finished the thought.
“She might believe Junie’s death makes Adrian richer.”
“And eventually her.”
Nobody spoke.
Elise finally said, “Adrian, do not confuse explanation with excuse.”
“I’m not.”
“If Corinne pushed Junie, somebody lying to her about money does not erase what she did.”
“I know.”
But Adrian also knew something else.
Corinne was not financially stupid.
She had worked in nonprofit development.
She understood contracts well enough to ask questions.
If she believed a forged trust summary, somebody she trusted had probably given it to her.
Adrian thought of Marcus.
His phone rang.
Detective Ortiz.
“Adrian, where are you?”
“With my attorney.”
“Good. I need you to ask her something.”
Elise leaned closer.
“What?”
Ortiz continued.
“Does Brooks Marine have a company called Cypress North Consulting in its vendor database?”
Adrian looked at Elise.
“No idea.”
“What is it?”
“We got banking records from a warrant connected to the yacht access account.”
Adrian’s pulse accelerated.
“And?”
“Cypress North received monthly payments from a Brooks Marine vendor for almost two years.”
“That means nothing to me.”
“It might.”
“Why?”
“Because Cypress North is registered to Corinne Brooks.”
The room went silent.
Adrian sat down.
“How much?”
“Just under six hundred thousand dollars.”
Danielle swore softly.
Adrian couldn’t speak.
Ortiz added, “There’s more.”
Of course there was.
“There always is.”
“Three of the payments came within twenty-four hours of major Northstar acquisition milestones.”
Adrian looked at the forged trust summary.
At Naomi’s thirty-four percent.
At his wife’s secret company.
Then Ortiz said, “The last payment was made the morning of the yacht trip.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“How much?”
“One hundred fifty thousand dollars.”
Not random.
Not old.
Not misunderstood.
Money had moved into Corinne’s hidden company hours before Junie was pushed over the side.
Danielle reached for Adrian’s arm.
He pulled away—not from her, but from everybody.
He needed one second without being touched.
One second to accept that his marriage might not have been a marriage at all.
Elise said quietly, “Adrian.”
He opened his eyes.
“Get me every corporate payment connected to Cypress North.”
“That will require board authority.”
“Then get it.”
“And if Marcus blocks us?”
Adrian looked at Naomi’s signature.
The wife he had lost had tried to warn him years earlier.
The wife he had married might have tried to kill his daughter.
Between those two women stood the same man.
Marcus Bell.
May you like
Adrian’s oldest friend.
“If Marcus blocks us,” Adrian said, “then I finally start asking why.”
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