Chapter 6 - WHAT LUKE ACTUALLY BELIEVED
Sarah spent that night in Luke’s home office.
She had avoided the room since deployment began.
Too much of him was in it.
Running shoes.
Old medals.
A mug that said WORLD’S OKAYEST DAD.
Stacks of Carter Logistics files she had never opened.
That last part hurt.
Whenever Luke tried to explain the company, Sarah had said:
“Your family, your headache.”
She had meant:
I trust you.
He may have heard:
Deal with it alone.
She opened his laptop with the password they shared.
Most company files were synced remotely.
Then she found a folder:
RIVERPORT.
Inside were competing analyses.
Luke was not categorically against Easton.
His notes said:
Easton solves liquidity. Problem is price + governance + speed.
Another:
Nathan is right about cash. Mom is wrong that urgency excuses conflict.
Conflict?
Sarah kept reading.
Easton Capital had offered Nathan a three-year employment retention package if the deal closed.
Base salary increase.
Performance bonus.
Potential total incremental value:
$620,000 over three years.
Disclosed in the term sheet appendix.
Not hidden.
Still a conflict.
Luke’s note:
Nathan deserves compensation if he stays through turnaround. But he cannot be sole negotiator of a deal that pays him for closing.
Again, nuanced.
Then Sarah found an audio file.
Date:
two months earlier.
Luke’s voice.
“If you’re hearing this because I can’t speak for myself, don’t assume Mom is evil and don’t assume Nathan is stealing. The company really is in trouble.”
Sarah stopped breathing.
Luke continued:
“They will tell you Easton is the only option. It might become the best option. But it is not the only option yet.”
He named three safeguards.
Independent Riverport valuation.
Independent negotiation committee excluding Nathan.
No use of Luke’s branch vote through an old proxy if Sarah was available.
Then the final line:
“If Mom says I trusted her judgment, she’s right. If she says that means she gets to replace yours, she’s wrong.”
Sarah listened twice.
Then she heard something else.
A notification sound in the recording.
Luke paused and said:
“Reeves is here. I’ll get him to witness the amendment.”
Captain Daniel Reeves.
Independent witness.
Alive.
May you like
Available.
And suddenly Margaret’s proxy argument became much weaker.
