Chapter 4 - ETHAN HAD REFUSED A $118 MILLION DEAL BEFORE HE DIEDAt 8:30 a.m., the emergency guardianship hearing began.
Tabitha appeared with Caleb Shore.
Rebecca appeared with Rachel.
Lucas did not attend.
A child advocate had been appointed.
Rebecca was grateful.
The judge had Alma’s video.
The forged caregiver consent.
Rebecca’s travel records.
The petition.
The court did not grant Tabitha emergency guardianship.
Instead, the judge suspended the proceeding and ordered a full investigation into the disputed documents.
Tabitha’s face changed when the judge mentioned possible forgery.
Caleb remained calm.
Too calm.
He said:
“My client relied on documents she understood to be valid.”
Rebecca almost laughed.
Tabitha relied on a document she allegedly watched Rebecca sign?
No.
They were already separating blame.
The judge ordered no unsupervised contact between Tabitha and Lucas.
Rebecca walked out with her son legally secure for now.
But Rachel warned:
“This isn’t over.”
“I know.”
“Caleb will argue misunderstanding.”
“Tabitha will blame him.”
“Probably.”
Rebecca looked back toward the courtroom doors.
“What about the sale?”
“That’s outside this case.”
“Not anymore.”
They spent the afternoon reviewing Mercer Audio.
Ethan founded the company at twenty-eight.
Custom speakers.
Studio equipment.
Later professional sound systems.
By the time he died at forty-three, the company had become an industry name.
Northline Equity Partners first approached Ethan fourteen months before his death.
Offer:
$95 million.
Ethan refused.
They raised it.
$106 million.
He refused.
Final offer before his death:
$118 million.
Still no.
Rebecca didn’t understand.
“That’s a huge price.”
Rachel nodded.
“Maybe Ethan thought it was worth more.”
“Or he didn’t want to sell.”
Rebecca remembered him.
Ethan loved the company.
Even after their divorce, he would talk about a new speaker design like someone describing a child.
But there was another detail.
Northline’s proposal required acquisition of one division Ethan had recently separated legally.
Mercer Signal Labs.
“What does that division do?”
Rachel opened filings.
“Commercial acoustic hardware.”
“Anything unusual?”
“Government and aviation contracts.”
Rebecca frowned.
“That sounds important.”
“It may be.”
But they did not speculate.
Facts first.
They found minutes from the last board meeting Ethan attended.
Northline presented.
Tabitha encouraged him to sell.
Caleb Shore attended as company counsel.
Ethan refused.
Then he said something recorded in minutes:
“I will not transfer Signal Labs until I understand why Northline wants it more than the rest of the company.”
Rebecca reread it.
“He was suspicious.”
“Yes.”
“What happened after?”
Three weeks later, Ethan created Lucas’s trust amendment.
Two months later, Ethan died.
Rebecca stared at Rachel.
“His death was an accident.”
“Yes.”
Ethan died when his small plane suffered mechanical failure during a flight to Memphis.
Federal investigation concluded fuel-system failure caused by maintenance error.
Rebecca remembered the grief.
The funeral.
The lawsuits.
The mechanic admitted negligence.
There was no evidence of sabotage.
She refused to let suspicion rewrite that without proof.
“Don’t make this about his death.”
Rachel nodded.
“I wasn’t.”
“Good.”
They returned to the mansion with police permission so Lucas could retrieve personal belongings.
Tabitha was staying elsewhere.
Alma met them.
Lucas went with Rebecca upstairs.
He took his model cars.
A stuffed bear Ethan had won him at a fair.
Three books.
Then stopped at the music-room door.
“Dad’s drawer.”
Rebecca remembered Alma’s words.
Two days before Ethan died, he told her to open a locked drawer if Tabitha ever tried to take Lucas away.
They entered.
The music room smelled faintly of wood and guitar polish.
Ethan’s instruments remained on the wall.
The desk sat beneath the window.
Locked drawer.
Alma produced a small brass key from her apron pocket.
Rebecca looked at her.
“You kept that eight months?”
“Mr. Ethan gave it to me.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“He told me only if Mrs. Tabitha tried to get Lucas away.”
Rebecca nodded.
Specific instruction.
Alma opened the drawer.
Inside:
A blue ledger.
A sealed envelope.
A flash drive.
And an old phone.
Rebecca stared.
The blue ledger.
The thing Ethan and Tabitha fought about.
Rachel put on gloves before touching anything.
The envelope said:
REBECCA — IF TABITHA EVER TRIES TO BECOME LUCAS’S GUARDIAN, DO NOT TRUST CALEB SHORE.
Rebecca stopped breathing.
Ethan had written her name before he died.
May you like
He had predicted the exact legal move.
And he had named the lawyer helping Tabitha.
Related Stories
