Chapter 6

On Friday morning, the proxy expired while I was eating toast at Mara's kitchen counter.

No alarm sounded. No building changed its sign. Adrian still had his office, his title, and my sister.

But at nine seventeen, Tomas confirmed receipt of the notices asserting the rights that returned to the Bennett trust under the existing documents.

I read the email twice.

"Congratulations," Mara said. "You now control a very expensive fraction."

"An inconvenient fraction."

"Those are the useful ones."

The shareholder agreement gave my block the right to nominate one director. Dad's nominee had resigned after his death, and under…