Chapter 3 - JULIAN WAS NOT SARAH’S LOVER
Julian Cross was an attorney.
Or he had been.
Marcus’s lawyer, Rachel Kim, found him within an hour.
Estate planning.
Trust litigation.
Private family offices.
Disbarred in New Jersey four years earlier after mishandling client funds and falsifying records in an unrelated matter.
Connecticut had never licensed him.
Yet Julian still marketed himself privately as a “family asset strategist.”
Sarah had paid him $74,000 during the previous year.
From where?
A personal account Marcus funded for household expenses.
Marcus almost laughed.
He had unknowingly financed the plan against himself.
But the bigger surprise came from Evelyn.
She recognized Julian’s name.
“He worked for Hannah’s father.”
Marcus looked up.
“What?”
“Not directly. A junior associate at the firm handling the Hart Family Trust.”
Hannah’s family.
The beach house.
Seabrook.
Evelyn’s hands shook.
“He would have seen the old structure.”
Marcus sat very still.
Hannah’s beach house in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, was not simply sentimental property.
It sat inside the Lily Hart Heritage Trust.
Hannah’s father had placed the home there along with investment assets.
After Hannah died, Lily became the sole economic beneficiary.
Marcus served as trustee while she was a minor.
Sarah had no beneficial interest.
None.
“Why would Julian care about Seabrook?”
Evelyn answered:
“The house itself is valuable.”
Approximately $7 million after coastal appreciation.
But Evelyn looked troubled.
“What?”
“The trust also owns Hart Coastal shares.”
Marcus frowned.
Hannah rarely discussed them.
Hart Coastal Holdings operated marinas, waterfront commercial properties, and hospitality assets along the Northeast.
Lily’s trust owned 18%.
Not controlling.
But significant.
And under an old shareholder agreement, certain trust shares carried enhanced voting rights while managed for a minor descendant.
Marcus stared.
“How much control?”
Evelyn whispered:
“Enough to block a sale.”
Everything changed.
Six months earlier, a private equity group had quietly approached Hart Coastal.
Marcus remembered Hannah’s cousin mentioning it.
A potential sale valued near $240 million.
Lily’s trust could potentially block or materially affect approval.
Marcus was trustee.
If he were removed—
“Who becomes successor trustee?”
Evelyn looked almost embarrassed.
“I do.”
Marcus exhaled.
So Sarah still gained nothing.
Unless Julian had another plan.
They returned to the backup footage.
One file showed Sarah furious.
“I thought I become trustee if Marcus is incapacitated.”
Julian replied:
“Not automatically.”
“Then why are we doing this?”
“Because Evelyn is seventy-one.”
Sarah stared.
Julian continued:
“She can be dealt with.”
Evelyn went pale.
Then he placed another document on the table.
“If Marcus signs the amendment first, successor authority changes.”
Marcus zoomed in.
The amendment named:
SARAH VANCE — SUCCESSOR FAMILY TRUSTEE.
He had never agreed to that.
Then Sarah said:
“And Lily?”
Julian smiled.
“If the behavioral file is strong enough, we petition for residential placement during the transition.”
Marcus felt rage rising again.
Sarah had not been trying merely to make Lily look difficult.
She was trying to remove the six-year-old beneficiary from the household while taking control of the trust around her.
Then Julian said one more thing:
“After that, Seabrook sells first.”
Sarah smiled.
“And Hart Coastal?”
May you like
Julian answered:
“That’s where the real money starts.”
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