Chapter 3
Julian’s finances were worse than Conrad expected.
Not personally.
His house was paid for.
His investments were substantial.
His problem was Bellafonte Development North, the construction company he had built beneath the wider family umbrella.
Two years earlier, Julian began a luxury redevelopment outside Boston.
The project was supposed to transform an old industrial waterfront into offices, apartments, and retail space.
Interest rates rose.
A primary tenant withdrew.
Construction costs climbed.
Julian’s lenders became nervous.
By the week of the garden party, his company needed almost eighteen million dollars to avoid breaching a major credit agreement.
Conrad had known the project was struggling.
He had not known the deadline was thirty-one days away.
Rachel placed a proposal in front of him.
Bellafonte Holdings could purchase Julian’s development company at a price high enough to satisfy the lenders.
“Who proposed this?”
“Julian.”
“When?”
“Six weeks ago.”
“I rejected it.”
“Yes.”
Conrad remembered.
Julian had framed the acquisition as consolidation.
Conrad saw it as forcing healthy family businesses to rescue a badly managed project.
“What happened after I rejected it?”
“Agatha requested a second review.”
“And?”
“You rejected that too.”
“Correct.”
Rachel turned to another page.
“Then a preliminary emergency acquisition packet was prepared.”
Conrad’s eyes narrowed.
“Authorized by whom?”
“Julian’s counsel says it was only contingency planning.”
The draft was dated for the morning after the garden party.
Conrad read the heading.
Emergency Stabilization Transaction.
The continuity committee could theoretically approve it if Conrad were unable to exercise authority.
The document did not prove anyone planned to remove him.
Companies prepared contingencies all the time.
But the timing was getting harder to dismiss.
Agatha requested the continuity rules.
She added key witnesses to the garden party.
Julian’s company needed rescue.
An emergency acquisition packet was prepared for the next morning.
Then Elliot was chained to a column.
Julian physically challenged Conrad in front of everyone.
Rachel watched him.
“Don’t finish the story yet.”
Conrad looked at her.
“You think I am.”
“I know you are.”
She had represented him long enough to risk annoyance.
Conrad closed the packet.
“Then give me facts.”
The next fact came from Nicholas.
The fake message that sent Mrs. Bennett upstairs had been transmitted through the estate’s internal staff system.
The login belonged to Agatha.
Agatha claimed someone else must have used her tablet.
Security logs showed the tablet connected from the garden terrace at the exact time the message was sent.
Conrad stared at the report.
Agatha had removed Elliot’s medical caregiver.
That was no longer inference.
The chain.
The fake message.
The water.
The visible key.
May you like
She wanted control over the conditions around the boy.
The only question was why she had chosen to do it in front of half the family.
