Chapter 14 - Side Letter D
Victoria’s lawyers produced Side Letter D after investigators obtained an order preserving her founder records.
She claimed she had forgotten it was there.
Nobody laughed.
Original.
Signed by Arthur.
Signed by Victoria.
Signed by two independent attorneys.
The clause existed.
If Arthur’s primary heir became permanently incapable before age thirty and the independent trust could no longer exercise responsible governance, Victoria received an option to reacquire up to eight percent of founder voting shares at a defined price.
Permanent incapacity.
Not illness.
Not temporary hospitalization.
Not medical leave.
And one more condition:
Victoria must not have been removed from board leadership for fiduciary misconduct.
Her current suspension mattered.
If misconduct findings became final, option died.
So she had enormous incentive to control investigation before any finding.
Then another paragraph.
The option could not be exercised if Victoria had an undisclosed financial interest in a transaction requiring the heir’s consent.
North Harbor.
Exactly.
Arthur had surrounded her right with conflict restrictions.
Victoria apparently knew.
Why proceed?
Because she believed the side investment did not count as direct benefit.
Her lawyers now disagreed.
Then Marcus gave investigators an email.
VICTORIA TO MARCUS:
Once Renee signs delegation, Side D becomes easier.
Marcus:
I thought she had to be permanently incompetent.
Victoria:
Do not practice law.
That was not proof she knew claim was invalid.
But it showed she was thinking about it.
Then the board committee investigated North Harbor.
Victoria argued her stake was disclosed to personal counsel.
Not board.
Owen’s.
Marcus’s.
Samuel’s charitable stake.
Mess.
Then Halcyon.
They claimed they did not know Victoria’s beneficial ownership.
Records suggested one senior Halcyon executive did.
That created additional scrutiny.
Transaction effectively dead.
Halcyon withdrew offer publicly.
Victoria lost the immediate sale.
But Side D fight remained.
Then Renee’s transplant recovery.
Days became weeks.
Counts low.
Infection risk.
One fever sent everyone into panic.
Antibiotics.
She stabilized.
Lily sent drawings through sealed hospital delivery.
One:
Renee as a robot queen shooting germs.
Renee laughed until it hurt.
Then I realized our six month contract was halfway over.
I did not think about money anymore.
That scared me.
One night Nathan sat beside me outside Renee’s room.
“You know this is becoming complicated.”
“What?”
“You.”
“Helpful.”
“You care about her.”
“Yes.”
“Beyond contract.”
I looked through the glass.
“Yes.”
“Does she know?”
“No.”
“Keep it that way until she is stronger.”
I stared at him.
“You her lawyer or father?”
“Today?”
He sighed.
“Both apparently.”
He was right.
Renee was physically vulnerable.
Dependency.
Money.
Power imbalance in both directions.
No romantic confession now.
Not while she needed me.
Then Marcus requested another meeting.
He had remembered something.
Victoria’s Side D document was not the copy she first showed him.
“What changed?”
The reacquisition price.
Her version said:
Original settlement price plus inflation.
The produced original said:
Fair market value.
Difference:
Hundreds of millions.
Marcus had photographed the altered version.
If true, Victoria had been preparing to exercise a cheaper option using a modified document.
Nathan looked at the photo.
Metadata authentic.
Forgery?
Altered draft?
We needed originals.
Then investigators searched Owen Pike’s recovered server.
Folder:
SIDE D EXECUTION.
Inside:
A PDF matching Marcus’s photograph.
Created eight months earlier.
Author:
VICTORIA STERLING.
The conspiracy had another layer.
She was not simply exploiting a real right.
May you like
She had tried to rewrite the price.
Continue to the next part: Victoria’s old grievance turns into a modern attempt to buy back billions in voting power at a fraction of its value.
