Chapter 4 - Thirty-Eight PercentBy sunrise, Caleb had not slept.
Neither had Marcus.
They returned to Sterling House at 4:40 a.m. without June. She stayed with Lena at a secure residence until private investigators could relocate her.
Serena had gone to bed.
Caleb almost admired the arrogance.
Almost.
At 5:05, he entered his father’s study and spread every document across the desk.
Guardianship petition.
Psychiatric evaluation.
Corporate proxy.
Theo’s trust agreement.
Caleb called the only attorney he trusted enough to wake before dawn.
Margaret Sloan answered on the third ring.
“If this is about a merger, I’m resigning.”
“It’s about Theo.”
She was awake immediately.
“What happened?”
“Come to my house.”
“How bad?”
Caleb looked at the forged psychiatric report.
“Bring a criminal attorney.”
Margaret arrived forty-five minutes later wearing jeans beneath a camel coat, silver hair tied behind her head.
She had served as Sterling Global’s outside counsel since Caleb was twenty-six.
She read for twenty minutes without interrupting.
Then she removed her glasses.
“Caleb.”
“Say it.”
“This isn’t a divorce strategy.”
“I know.”
“This is an attempted corporate takeover.”
“I know.”
“No.”
She pointed at the papers.
“I don’t think you understand yet.”
Caleb sat opposite her.
Margaret pulled Theo’s trust document closer.
“When your father reorganized ownership before his death, he placed thirty-eight percent of Sterling Global into a generation-skipping trust for your future children.”
“Theo.”
“Yes.”
“You and two independent trustees control those shares while Theo is a minor.”
“I know.”
“But clause seventeen changes the voting arrangement under extraordinary custodial circumstances.”
Caleb frowned.
“What circumstances?”
“If a court determines that you are temporarily incapable of serving as Theo’s custodial trustee, the child’s other legal parent can petition to exercise proxy voting authority until a replacement trustee is appointed.”
Caleb stared.
“How long?”
“Potentially months.”
“Months is enough to replace a board.”
“Exactly.”
Marcus stood near the window.
“So Serena gets Caleb declared unstable, takes custody of the child, gets proxy control, and votes with whoever is helping her.”
Margaret nodded.
Caleb looked at the corporate resolution.
“Who benefits?”
“That’s what we find out.”
Caleb opened his laptop.
Sterling Global had eleven board members.
Caleb controlled three seats directly.
His allies controlled three more.
Theo’s trust effectively controlled two.
The remaining three belonged to institutional investors.
Take away Caleb.
Control Theo’s proxy.
Flip one independent director.
Serena’s group could seize the company.
“Somebody on my board.”
Margaret nodded.
“Probably.”
Caleb thought of every face around the polished conference table.
People who had attended his wedding.
Sent gifts when Theo was born.
Visited his father in the hospital.
“Who?”
“We don’t guess.”
Margaret tapped the recording.
“We build evidence.”
At 7:15, a security guard entered.
“Sir?”
Caleb looked up.
“Mrs. Sterling would like to leave.”
“Is Theo with her?”
“No.”
“Then she’s free to go.”
The guard hesitated.
“She has three suitcases.”
Caleb stared at the documents on his desk.
“Search them.”
Margaret shook her head.
“You cannot search her personal property without consent.”
Caleb exhaled.
“Right.”
Marcus asked, “Can we photograph the exterior?”
“Yes.”
The guard left.
Ten minutes later, Serena entered the study herself.
She looked perfect.
Gray trousers.
White blouse.
Designer coat.
Not a hair out of place.
“You turned my home into a prison.”
“You were free to leave.”
“Without my son.”
“Theo is sleeping.”
“I’m his mother.”
“And I’m his father.”
She looked at Margaret.
“Of course.”
Margaret gave her a polite smile.
“Good morning, Serena.”
“Save it.”
Serena turned back to Caleb.
“I’ll be staying at the Plaza.”
“This is Connecticut.”
“I’m aware.”
“You packed three suitcases to drive into Manhattan at seven in the morning?”
“I don’t feel safe here.”
Caleb almost laughed.
“You don’t feel safe?”
“With you behaving like this.”
She glanced toward Margaret.
“You’ll be hearing from my attorneys.”
“I’m sure.”
“And Caleb?”
He waited.
She stepped closer.
“You’re making a mistake you won’t be able to undo.”
“Funny.”
He looked at Theo’s guardianship petition.
“I was about to say the same thing.”
For one second, the mask slipped.
Serena’s eyes became hard.
Then she smiled.
“I loved you.”
Caleb said nothing.
She turned and left.
Marcus waited until the front door closed.
“Car is moving.”
Caleb walked into the security room.
The exterior cameras followed Serena’s SUV down the long driveway.
At the gate, it turned south.
Not toward Manhattan.
Marcus frowned.
“That’s Route 33.”
Caleb knew.
Serena was heading toward Westport.
Margaret asked, “What’s in Westport?”
Caleb’s phone rang.
Sterling Global’s chief financial officer.
Ellis Ward.
Caleb answered.
“Ellis.”
“Caleb, we have a problem.”
“What?”
“I received notice ten minutes ago of an emergency board meeting.”
Caleb stood.
“Called by whom?”
“Thomas Vane.”
Caleb’s blood went cold.
Thomas Vane had been his father’s closest friend.
Board vice chairman.
Sixty-seven years old.
One of Theo’s independent trustees.
“What’s the agenda?”
Ellis hesitated.
“Your temporary removal as chief executive.”
Margaret stood.
“On what basis?”
Caleb put the call on speaker.
Ellis answered.
“Medical incapacity.”
Caleb stared at the phone.
“Who filed it?”
“An outside law firm delivered a psychiatric report and a sworn affidavit from Serena.”
Marcus quietly swore.
Caleb asked, “When is the meeting?”
“Ten a.m.”
Two hours.
Enough time to get from Westport to Sterling Global headquarters in Manhattan.
Caleb thought of Serena’s SUV.
Westport.
Thomas Vane lived in Westport.
“Marcus.”
“I’m already checking.”
Thirty seconds later, a location ping appeared from the gate camera tracking service.
Serena’s SUV had stopped.
The address appeared.
Thomas Vane’s estate.
Caleb stared.
His father’s oldest friend.
Theo’s trustee.
The man who had held Caleb’s son at the christening and promised to protect him.
Margaret whispered, “There’s your board connection.”
But Caleb wasn’t convinced.
Thomas was powerful.
Greedy, perhaps.
But he was not stupid.
Destroying Caleb through forged medical evidence exposed everyone involved.
There had to be something more.
His phone buzzed again.
A photograph.
Sent from an unknown number.
Caleb opened it.
His stomach dropped.
The picture showed Theo asleep in his nursery.
Taken within the last five minutes.
Caleb ran.
Marcus was beside him instantly.
They reached the nursery in less than thirty seconds.
The security guard outside was unconscious on the floor.
The nursery door was open.
The crib was empty.
Caleb’s heart stopped.
“Theo!”
Then a cry came from the adjoining dressing room.
Caleb rushed inside.
June stood beside the changing table.
Theo was in her arms.
Safe.
Caleb nearly collapsed.
“Where did you come from?”
June looked confused.
“I returned through the staff entrance.”
Marcus checked the windows.
Locked.
Caleb showed June the photograph.
Her face drained of color.
“That was taken from inside this room.”
Exactly.
Someone had entered.
Someone had been close enough to photograph Theo while the house was locked down.
Marcus opened the closet.
Nothing.
He checked beneath furniture.
Nothing.
Then June noticed the air vent.
The decorative brass cover was loose.
Marcus removed it.
Inside sat a tiny wireless camera.
And beside it—
A second envelope.
Caleb pulled it free.
Inside was a single photograph.
His father.
Thomas Vane.
And a third man.
The picture was twenty years old.
Caleb knew the third man immediately.
Warren Bell.
Theo’s doctor.
On the back, someone had written:
ASK WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR MOTHER.
Caleb stared at the message.
His mother had died when he was seventeen.
A sudden medical emergency.
May you like
Dr. Warren Bell had been her physician.
And for the first time in twenty-five years, Caleb wondered whether her death had really been as simple as everyone had told him.
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