“Mark,” I said, eyes never leaving Ethan’s pale face. “I have an emergency restructuring of my estate.”

A pause. Mark was the sharpest corporate attorney in the state, and he heard the steel in my voice. “I’m listening. Do I need a pen?”

“You need a team,” I said. “First, I’m completely dissolving the family trust. I’m removing Ethan as successor trustee and primary beneficiary, effective immediately.”

“Dad, stop!” Ethan lunged forward, but I held up a single finger, and it froze him where he stood.

“Second,” I continued to the phone, “I want to execute the balloon-payment clause on the Vanguard Logistics loan. Call the note due by Monday morning.”

“Tom, that will bankrupt his company,” Mark said calmly.