Chapter 10 - THE NOTEBOOK THAT COULD DESTROY THEM ALL
My father’s black notebook contained no dramatic confession.
It contained numbers.
Of course.
Joseph Woods trusted arithmetic more than people.
Every page tracked money.
Anthony Steves.
Bellini entities.
Bankers.
Judges.
Real estate.
Then a separate section:
L.S.
Larkin.
I looked at him.
“You’re in here.”
His face closed.
“How old?”
Transactions began when he was twenty-one.
Before he inherited anything.
College-age.
Yet millions moved through accounts carrying his name.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
We verified.
Some were custodial structures created by Stephen Steves.
Others used Larkin as nominal beneficiary.
Pattern repeated.
Criminal families used children as future ownership shields.
Thomas used me the same way.
Then one note:
LARKIN UNAWARE. DO NOT CONTACT.
My father had believed him innocent.
At least then.
That mattered.
Then another entry dated eight years later.
LARKIN RESTRUCTURING. POSSIBLY CLEANING LEGACY CHANNELS.
Joseph had been watching him.
Before dying.
He thought Larkin might be trying to legitimize parts of the organization.
Larkin read silently.
“My father knew?”
“He suspected.”
That unsettled him.
Then final pages.
Joseph had identified a planned transfer of Solstice assets.
Anthony wanted to move them into Thomas’s control.
But Stephen Steves resisted.
Why?
Because Stephen had discovered Anthony was stealing from the family.
Two brothers.
War hidden inside spreadsheets.
Joseph got trapped between them.
Then one shocking line:
STEPHEN OFFERS PROTECTION FOR MARGARET/PENELOPE IF J.W. DESTROYS EVIDENCE.
My father refused.
Why?
He wrote:
Protection purchased with silence is another form of captivity.
I looked at Larkin.
He did too.
That sentence could have been written about us.
Then:
If I survive, I leave with my family.
If I don’t, Penelope must never become anyone’s leverage.
I closed the notebook.
For three years, Larkin had unknowingly violated the last thing my father wanted.
He knew.
“I’m sorry.”
I almost laughed.
“For what part?”
“All of it.”
That was new.
No defense.
No explanation.
Just apology.
Then we found the last page.
Account code.
SOL-RED-7.
Current value unknown.
Beneficiary:
Margaret Woods.
My mother.
After her death:
Penelope Woods.
Another asset?
Sarah traced it.
Not money.
Voting control.
A special legacy share giving veto rights over certain Solstice transactions.
Why would my parents hold that?
Because Joseph designed the company.
He built a kill switch.
If things turned dangerous, Margaret could block transfers.
She never knew how to use it.
Maybe.
Now it belonged to me.
Thomas could not liquidate major Solstice assets without my approval.
That was why he needed me alive long enough to sign.
And disposable afterward.
Suddenly his plan made perfect sense.
The gala was not only about identifying whether I had evidence.
He wanted to begin forcing me into the open, make me look unstable, incompetent, ridiculous.
A painfully ordinary secretary among dangerous men.
If later I disputed Solstice control, who would believe me?
Except I had walked into the gala looking like someone impossible to dismiss.
Accidentally, I had ruined the narrative before knowing it existed.
Then Sarah said:
“We can freeze Solstice transfers.”
I looked at Larkin.
“Do it.”
He nodded.
No hesitation.
The moment the freeze hit, Thomas disappeared.
And this time, he took something with him.
May you like
Evelyn Steves.
Larkin’s mother had vanished from the Vermont facility.
