Chapter 6 - THE COMPANY IN JASON'S NAME
Jason did not run.
That helped.
He surrendered his laptop, phone, bank records, and passport voluntarily.
He also hired his own lawyer.
That helped less emotionally.
Daniel confronted him outside the courthouse.
“Tell me.”
“I didn’t form it.”
“Your signature.”
“I consult for dozens of entities. Someone could have copied it.”
“Lauren?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“You lied for me for four months.”
“Yes.”
“You staged an affair.”
“Yes.”
“You disappeared on command.”
Jason’s face hardened.
“Not on command.”
“What?”
“I left because she heard Ethan was hospitalized and still went upstairs ordering champagne.”
Daniel stared.
Jason continued:
“You told me to keep gathering evidence. I decided I was done.”
That mattered.
Jason had not been Daniel’s puppet at the end.
Then he said:
“And I never touched Ethan’s trust.”
Financial forensics eventually found the first break.
LMC Wellness had been incorporated using Jason’s name three years earlier.
Before he met Lauren.
Someone already had his identity documents.
Who?
Jason had once worked for Carter Medical Supply as an outside compliance contractor.
Daniel froze.
“When?”
“Four years ago.”
“My father was alive.”
“Yes.”
Jason had reviewed vendor fraud for Charles Carter.
During that project, copies of his identification and signature samples were stored in corporate legal files.
Someone inside Carter Medical Supply could have created LMC Wellness later.
The scandal moved inward.
Daniel asked Richard:
“Who had access?”
“Legal. Finance. Executive administration.”
“And Lauren?”
Richard hesitated.
“She served on the family charitable committee. Limited access.”
Not enough.
Then Daniel’s older sister, Rebecca Carter, entered the story.
Forty-two.
Chief financial officer.
The person Daniel trusted most inside the company.
She called him privately.
“You need to stop assuming Lauren did the trust transfers.”
Daniel stared.
“Why?”
“Because Dad set up some of them.”
“What?”
Charles Carter had moved medical-trust funds into wellness vendors for legitimate tax structuring.
Poorly documented.
LMC Wellness began as a shell for medical reimbursements.
Why Jason’s name?
His compliance firm had been proposed as administrator.
The arrangement was abandoned.
The company shell remained.
Then someone revived it after Charles died.
Rebecca said:
“I thought accounting closed it.”
They had not.
Who revived it?
Login credentials:
Rebecca Carter.
Daniel felt the world tilt.
His sister denied it.
“My credentials were shared with Dad’s controller.”
Controller:
Martin Lowe.
Retired six months earlier.
Now living in Florida.
Daniel almost laughed bitterly.
Every family secret apparently retired to Florida.
Then Lauren requested a private meeting with Daniel.
He refused.
She sent one message.
ASK REBECCA WHY SHE HATED ETHAN'S TRUST.
Daniel stared.
Rebecca hated the trust?
Why?
Charles had funded Ethan generously.
Rebecca’s own daughter, Sophie, had no equivalent trust.
Favoritism.
Family money again.
Daniel called his sister.
She answered.
He asked one question.
“Did Dad leave more for Ethan than Sophie?”
Silence.
Then:
“Yes.”
“How much more?”
Rebecca whispered:
May you like
“Enough that I stopped speaking to him for six months.”
The trust theft had just gained another possible motive.
