Chapter 7 - THE BROTHER WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
Carter stared at the shareholder report like it was written in another language.
“My mother hates Adrian.”
“Apparently not enough to avoid doing business with him.”
Evelyn’s fund held roughly six percent.
Adrian controlled nine.
Together, fifteen percent.
That alone did not give them control.
But it gave them leverage.
Then we found the voting agreement.
Evelyn promised to support Adrian for a board seat in exchange for his backing on “succession matters.”
“What succession matters?” I asked.
Carter didn’t answer.
Because we both knew.
His.
Someone had been planning for Sterling Technologies without Carter.
The irony was brutal.
While he was building a future with Khloe, his mother was building one without him.
Adrian agreed to a video call.
He looked so much like Carter that seeing him felt unreal.
“I wondered when Samantha would appear,” he said.
“You know me?”
“Everyone who understands Sterling knows you.”
Carter stiffened.
“What do you want?”
Adrian smiled faintly.
“Still making every conversation about yourself.”
The brothers clearly had history.
I interrupted.
“Why are you working with Evelyn?”
“I’m not.”
I held up the voting agreement.
“She approached me.”
“And you signed.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she said Carter was destroying shareholder value.”
Carter laughed angrily.
“You’ve wanted my company for years.”
“Your company?”
Adrian leaned closer to the camera.
“That word again.”
Then he looked at me.
“Ask him who funded Sterling before you did.”
Carter went quiet.
My stomach tightened.
“There was another investor?”
Adrian nodded.
“Him.”
He pointed to himself.
Years before Sterling became famous, Adrian loaned Carter $40 million.
No publicity.
No board role.
No founder credit.
Carter later repaid $25 million.
The remaining balance converted into shares under an old agreement Carter apparently considered invalid.
Adrian did not.
Their fight had begun long before I entered the picture.
But then Adrian said something that changed the entire conversation.
“I did not approach Evelyn.”
“She approached me after learning Carter planned to divorce Samantha.”
I turned toward my husband.
Carter closed his eyes.
I felt the room become very quiet.
“When?”
Adrian answered for him.
“Eight months ago.”
Eight months.
Khloe had been hired seven months ago.
Halcyon had been incorporated eleven months ago.
Evelyn’s share purchases accelerated nine months ago.
May you like
Everyone around me had been preparing for the end of my marriage.
Everyone except me.
