My heart started pounding. “What are you talking about?”
“If you stay sitting up, they won’t say what they plan to say,” Marcus explained calmly. “If you lie down, they’ll think you’re not here. And you’ll hear why they’ve been pushing you to sign that paperwork all week.”
The paperwork.
For three days my mother had insisted I sign a “small transfer document” for “family efficiency.” Every time I asked for details, she dismissed me. Stop being dramatic. It’s a wedding gift.
Marcus reached back and handed me a folded blanket. “You deserve to know.”
Fear beat pride.
I lay down, heart slamming, and pulled the blanket over myself. The leather felt cold against my cheek. I focused on breathing quietly.
Twenty minutes later, the front doors opened.
My father’s cologne filled the air first.
Then Daniel’s voice.
“Once we get her signature, the takeover is finalized,” he said smoothly.
I stopped breathing.
“She’ll sign,” my father, Thomas, replied with a low chuckle. “Karen will pressure her. She won’t read it closely.”
My fingers fumbled for my phone. I opened the voice recorder without thinking and pressed it against my chest.
Daniel sighed. “I just don’t want a scene.”
“There won’t be,” Thomas said. “The notary’s arriving at the suite. We file it Monday. By the time she realizes what she signed, the voting shares are already reassigned.”
Voting shares.
The family company. The one Grandpa left under my trusteeship because I was the only one who had bothered to learn how it worked.
Daniel lowered his voice. “And after that, the trust moves to Emily?”
“For now,” my father said. “We transfer Naomi’s authority to Emily. Karen and I ‘assist’ with oversight until the baby comes. Naomi’s out.”
My lungs burned under the blanket.
Daniel gave a quiet hum of approval. “Emily thinks Naomi’s been acting suspicious.”
“She’s always been jealous,” Thomas muttered. “The business belongs to the people who show up.”
The SUV slowed into the resort entrance.
“We’re here,” Marcus said evenly.
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