Chapter 10 - Arthur Realized Wesley Had Died Believing His Father Chose PriscillaArthur sat alone for nearly an hour.
Of everything Martin had fabricated, that email hurt most.
Wesley had died believing his father told him to stop worrying.
Believing Arthur supported giving Priscilla broad control.
Arthur remembered Wesley's final week.
His son had called twice.
Arthur was in Toronto negotiating a major financing package.
The first call lasted four minutes.
Wesley sounded distracted.
The second came late at night.
Arthur let it go to voicemail because he was in dinner.
He called back the next morning.
No answer.
Then Boston.
Then the hospital.
Then death.
Arthur had listened to Wesley's voicemail hundreds of times.
Dad, when you're back, I need twenty minutes. Not company stuff. Nolan. Call me.
Arthur always believed Wesley wanted to discuss guardianship planning.
Now he understood.
Wesley wanted to tell him the emails were wrong.
Arthur pressed his hands to his face.
Lydia entered quietly.
"I can come back."
"No."
She sat.
Arthur looked older.
"Was he angry with me when he died?"
Lydia did not answer quickly.
"I don't know."
"He thought I chose her."
"He may have been confused about what you believed."
"That's lawyer language."
"It's accurate."
Arthur stared through the windows at Long Island Sound.
"I should've taken the call."
"Yes."
The answer surprised him.
Lydia continued.
"You should have."
Arthur looked at her.
"But you didn't know it was the last chance."
"No."
"And regretting that does not create responsibility for Martin forging messages."
Arthur leaned back.
"Wesley called me."
"Yes."
"I was busy."
"Yes."
"I chose dinner."
"Yes."
Arthur exhaled.
"You're terrible at comfort."
"You didn't hire me for comfort."
He almost smiled.
Then she placed a new folder down.
"We found the beneficial owner."
Arthur's expression changed.
"Harbor Ridge?"
"Indirectly."
Bellmere Holdings owned 38 percent of North Coast.
Bellmere's beneficial owner was hidden through a trust.
The trust beneficiary:
Priscilla Hawthorne.
Arthur stared.
"Thirty-eight percent."
"Yes."
"Martin?"
"Owns forty-one percent."
"Remaining?"
"A third investor named Jonathan Sayer."
"Who is he?"
"Martin's brother-in-law."
Arthur laughed bitterly.
Independent fiduciary.
A family business pretending to be neutral.
"So I sign. Harbor Ridge gets management authority. Priscilla's company benefits."
"Yes."
"And she appoints the next protector through Nolan's guardianship."
"If uncontested."
Arthur stood.
"That's fraud."
Lydia remained calm.
"Potential fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, conflicts, forgery, fabricated records—multiple issues."
"Stop saying potential."
"Stop asking me to sentence people from a conference table."
Arthur paced.
Then stopped.
"Why abuse Nolan?"
"Control."
"Too broad."
Lydia looked at him.
"Because she believed fear would keep him quiet."
"About the blue folder?"
"Likely."
"Because he heard Wesley and Martin."
"Yes."
"And because if Nolan tells a court he wants contact with me—"
"That undermines any story that you are destabilizing him."
Arthur understood.
Priscilla needed a child who looked unstable.
A grandfather who looked confused.
A dead husband whose warnings looked paranoid.
Then her documents could appear reasonable.
"She wasn't losing her temper."
Lydia nodded.
"That's important."
"She was conditioning him."
"Maybe."
Arthur shot her a look.
Lydia sighed.
"Fine. The pattern suggests she was trying to intimidate him into silence and dependence."
Better.
Bernice then brought Arthur another piece.
"I kept a notebook."
Arthur looked at her.
"About Nolan?"
"After Wesley died."
She had written dates.
Not every incident.
Things that worried her.
Priscilla refusing Nolan permission to call Arthur after arguments.
Priscilla telling him Arthur was "too old to deal with his problems."
Priscilla threatening to send Bernice away if Nolan "kept running to staff."
Priscilla repeatedly asking whether Wesley had left anything with Nolan.
One entry:
February 11 — P asks N what Wesley told him about Samuel. N cries. P says, "Old men die too."
Arthur's face went white.
Bernice's eyes filled.
"I should have told you."
"Yes."
She looked down.
Arthur softened.
"Why didn't you?"
"Because every time I thought about it, Priscilla had an explanation."
"Such as?"
"Nolan was grieving. Nolan misunderstood. Nolan had nightmares."
Arthur nodded.
He had accepted the same explanations.
Bernice continued.
"And because she told me you wanted her to handle discipline."
Arthur stared.
"I never said that."
"She showed me an email."
His stomach dropped.
Another fake message.
Priscilla hadn't only manipulated Arthur's son.
She had used Arthur's forged words to silence Bernice.
"Do you have it?"
"Yes."
Bernice had forwarded it to herself.
The email:
Priscilla has my full confidence regarding Nolan. Staff should not interfere with her parenting decisions.
Arthur closed his eyes.
Martin had given her his voice.
That was the weapon.
Not signatures.
Trust.
Every forged message told people Arthur had already decided.
Arthur looked at Bernice.
"You believed it."
"Yes."
"So would I."
She began crying.
"I watched too long."
Arthur reached across the table.
"So did I."
That evening, Nolan asked Arthur whether he could sleep at Harbor House permanently.
Arthur explained decisions would involve courts and guardianship proceedings.
Nolan frowned.
"Why can't I just pick?"
"Because you're nine."
"That's stupid."
"Often."
Nolan looked toward the floor.
"Will Priscilla come back?"
"Not tonight."
"Ever?"
"I don't know."
Nolan was silent.
Then:
"She said if I told, you'd lose everything."
Arthur crouched.
"What did she mean?"
"She said Martin had proof you couldn't remember things."
Arthur's heartbeat changed.
"Did she show you?"
Nolan nodded.
"Emails."
"Mine?"
"Yeah."
"Did you believe them?"
Nolan looked at him.
"No."
Arthur felt relief.
"Why?"
Nolan answered:
"Because Dad said you write emails like you're mad at everybody."
Arthur stared.
Then laughed so unexpectedly Nolan laughed too.
His actual emails were famously short and punctuated like orders.
The fake ones were too conversational.
Wesley had known.
Maybe that was why he immediately suspected.
Then Nolan became serious.
"Dad said if someone ever showed me a nice email from you, it was probably fake."
Arthur laughed again.
Then stopped.
Because hidden inside the joke was another truth.
Wesley had anticipated the forgery.
Which meant he may have collected examples.
"Did Dad show you anything?"
Nolan thought.
"One time."
"What?"
"He put two emails next to each other."
"Where?"
"On his laptop."
"Which laptop?"
"The silver one."
Arthur frowned.
Wesley's company laptop had been returned after death.
His personal laptop—
Priscilla said it was lost during Boston travel.
Arthur suddenly knew what they needed next.
Find the laptop Priscilla claimed never came home.
May you like
Because if Wesley had been comparing fake emails—
he may have documented Martin's scheme himself.
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