Chapter 7 - GRANT'S PANIC
Grant requested a private meeting.
Mara refused.
Then Caleb advised:
“Do it with counsel. He may talk.”
He did.
Grant entered pale and exhausted.
No arrogance.
He looked at Mara.
“I didn’t know.”
“About what?”
“The new successor structure.”
“You read it at hospice.”
“No. I mean—I didn’t know it was final.”
Mara folded her arms.
“Victor told me it could be challenged.”
Caleb asked:
“On what basis?”
Grant hesitated.
“Undue influence.”
Mara almost laughed.
“Mine?”
“Yes.”
“Elias had an independent capacity evaluation.”
“I know that now.”
Caleb leaned forward.
“What did Victor tell you would happen if Mara died?”
Grant closed his eyes.
“That the trust protector role would fail and the prior family succession structure could be reinstated.”
Caleb stared.
“That is legally nonsensical.”
“I know that now.”
Mara’s voice turned cold.
“You threatened to kill me based on bad legal advice?”
Grant flinched.
“I was angry.”
“You grabbed me.”
“I know.”
“You said I had to die.”
“I know.”
“Did you mean it?”
Silence.
That answer mattered.
Grant finally whispered:
“In that moment, I wanted you gone.”
Not a confession to a plan.
Not innocence.
Something uglier than either.
Mara looked away.
Grant continued.
“Victor kept telling me Elias had been manipulated.”
“By me.”
“Yes.”
“Did you believe him?”
“I wanted to.”
There.
Grant had lost $6 million in expected Corven financing when the trust changed.
He had personally guaranteed part of a commercial loan based on future proceeds from the deal.
If the patent stayed in the purpose trust, he could owe millions.
May you like
His rage was not only grief.
It was insolvency.
