Chapter 6 - THE MAN BEHIND THE BUYOUT
Kaye had been inside the mansion that night.
He entered through the service wing, opened Emily’s token with a precision tool that left silver residue, planted Derek’s laptop in Charles’s car, and left before the police arrived. Mansion access logs had been erased, but a smart thermostat recorded the service door opening.
Kaye’s fingerprint on the champagne glass placed him near Sloane. The altered token connected him to the forged approvals. Bank records linked him to the dormant Langford account.
Federal agents arrested him.
Northstar publicly called Kaye a rogue contractor. Privately, its lawyers offered Sloane immunity from civil claims if she blamed Derek and Emily.
Derek finally understood he was expendable.
He called Emily from an unlisted number. “Help me stop the sale.”
“Will you admit what you did?”
“We can discuss the marriage later.”
“There is no marriage later.”
Derek offered company records proving Northstar’s role, but only if Emily signed a statement saying the belt strike was an isolated accident during an argument.
She refused.
At the shareholder meeting, Derek attempted to force the sale anyway. The purchase agreement granted him twelve million dollars and indemnity for most financial claims. He needed fifty-one percent approval.
Derek controlled twenty-eight percent. Northstar and aligned investors controlled eighteen. Sloane held proxies for another six.
Emily’s nineteen percent could stop them if the remaining shareholders sided with her.
Sloane produced a marital agreement stating that Emily’s voting rights transferred to Derek if she was charged with fraud against the company.
Emily had signed it years earlier.
She had not been charged yet.
Minutes before the vote, prosecutors filed a sealed complaint charging Emily with conspiracy based on the hidden account.
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Derek claimed her votes.
The sale passed by two percent.
