The line went silent. “What shares?” he asked.

That question told me everything I needed to know.

Chapter 9 — What the Records Showed

Linda’s investigation showed that my forty-percent interest had generated significant distributions after Thomas’s death. Almost two million dollars should have gone into the trust for my benefit.

Only a small portion had reached me. The rest had been redirected through a management company Daniel controlled — some financing the Carter Heritage expansion, some paying for the Naperville house, some covering personal spending unrelated to the business.

The four hundred thousand dollars I’d invested from my apartment sale had also been recorded improperly. Instead of preferred capital with repayment priority, the books described it as a family contribution with no guaranteed return.

There was no legitimate reason for that classification.