Chapter 4 - THE BEACH HOUSE WAS WORTH LESS THAN THE VOTE ATTACHED TO IT
Marcus drove to Seabrook with Evelyn two days later.
Not Sarah.
Not Lily.
Lily remained safely with Marcus’s sister and a therapist she already knew.
The beach house stood above gray Atlantic water, cedar shingles silvered by salt.
Hannah had loved this place.
Their first Christmas together.
Lily’s first steps on the back deck.
The last summer before Hannah became ill.
Marcus had avoided Seabrook after her death because grief lived in every room.
Now Sarah had turned it into a target.
Evelyn opened a wall safe in Hannah’s old study.
Inside:
Original trust records.
Share certificates.
A letter from Hannah.
Marcus stared.
“You knew this was here?”
“I knew she left papers. I didn’t know what.”
The letter was addressed to him.
Marcus,
If Lily is still little when you read this, I’m sorry.
His throat closed.
Hannah had written it during treatment.
She explained the Hart Coastal shares.
Her father distrusted concentrated family control.
So Lily’s trust received enhanced voting rights only while she was a minor and the trustee remained independent from any buyer.
The trust could block a sale that undervalued the company.
Then:
Do not sell Seabrook because someone tells you it is expensive sentiment.
It is tied to the shareholder agreement.
Marcus froze.
The beach house was designated as the trust’s “family asset anchor.”
As long as Seabrook remained in the trust, Lily’s enhanced voting rights remained intact.
If Seabrook was voluntarily sold without qualified reinvestment, those rights converted to ordinary shares.
That was why Julian wanted the house sold first.
Not because of the $7 million.
Because selling it weakened Lily’s voting position.
Then Hannah wrote:
If anyone pressures you to separate the house from the shares, assume they want something larger than the house.
Marcus sat down.
Hannah had predicted the mechanism.
Then Evelyn found another document.
A letter from Hart Coastal’s current CEO, sent eight months earlier.
PRIVATE EQUITY INDICATION OF INTEREST — $238 MILLION.
Marcus had never received it.
Why?
It had been sent to the Greenwich house by certified mail.
Signed for by:
S. VANCE.
Sarah.
Marcus checked his email.
Nothing.
Sarah had intercepted the notice.
Then another thought hit him.
If the sale required Lily’s voting block and Marcus had never responded, buyers might have contacted Sarah indirectly.
Rachel investigated.
The private equity firm denied any improper communication.
But one advisory company appeared repeatedly around the transaction.
Cross Meridian Advisory.
Principal:
Julian Cross.
The disbarred lawyer advising Sarah was also consulting for people trying to assemble enough shareholder support to sell Hart Coastal.
He had a financial incentive.
Success fee:
$2.5 million.
Now Marcus understood.
Julian did not care about Sarah.
He did not care about Lily.
He needed Marcus removed, Seabrook sold, and the enhanced voting block neutralized.
Then Evelyn turned over Hannah’s final envelope.
On the front:
FOR LILY’S TRUSTEE IF SOMEONE TRIES TO FORCE A SALE.
Inside was a single page.
May you like
And at the bottom was the signature of one person Marcus never expected.
Sarah’s father.
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