Chapter 93 - The Board’s Vote
The foundation board scheduled an emergency meeting for Monday morning.
Its members had received the access logs, the disputed distribution instruction, and the inventory showing that a personal letter had been removed from its original folder. The board asked each person to speak only to what they knew firsthand.
Madison went first. She described the forms she had signed and the materials she had been shown. She admitted she had signed too quickly. She also told the board that she had never seen the missing schedule or the letter Anne had written to Beatrice.
When the chair asked whether she still supported the disputed amendment, Madison answered carefully.
“I don’t support treating it as valid until the review is complete. I’m not asking you to declare it fraudulent. I’m asking that no one use it as settled authority.”
The motion passed.
The board suspended Adrian’s authority over the reserve and directed that all accounts remain frozen except for documented operating expenses. It also asked the independent accountant to trace the beneficiary allocations separately from the construction costs.
Charles’s attorney objected. He argued the vote interfered with a valid administration agreement.
Beatrice answered that the agreement itself was under review, and the board had a duty to protect the assets while the evidence was gathered.
For the first time, the word “protect” did not mean keeping information away from me. It meant preserving the records so no one could quietly move them again.
Outside, Madison walked beside me toward the parking lot.
“I thought I had to choose whether Mom trusted Dad or whether she trusted me,” she said.
“You don’t know what she thought.”
“I know. I’m trying not to make her a witness in a story she can’t answer.”
That was the most careful thing I had heard Madison say about our mother.
Dominic waited near the car. He had kept a respectful distance during the meeting, though I knew he had called his company’s counsel before arriving. His shipping company had been involved in the dock acquisition, and he had insisted that his own records be reviewed independently.
“Did the board vote?” he asked.
“Yes. Adrian’s authority is suspended for now.”
He nodded. “That’s a real step.”
“It is. It doesn’t tell us where the money went.”
“No,” he said. “But it stops anyone from moving it while you find out.”
I leaned against the car door. “Sometimes I wish you would tell me what to do.”
“I could.” He looked at me. “But you would hate me for it.”
“I might.”
He smiled faintly, then let the smile go. “I want you to have the records before you decide what my company should do about the dock.”
His company’s purchase documents were still under review. Dominic had not received any of the reserve money, but the seller had been paid through an account connected to the same structure. If the original funds had been restricted, the acquisition might need to be revisited.
“You don’t have to reopen the deal,” I said.
“I do if the money is part of it.”
“You’re risking a valuable property.”
“I’m risking a property,” he corrected. “You are dealing with your mother’s name.”
I looked away, afraid the gentleness in his voice would undo me.
That afternoon, the board’s attorney sent a formal notice to Adrian. He could not access the reserve or communicate with the center’s staff about the account without the board’s written approval.
An hour later, a delivery arrived at the center.
It was addressed to me.
Inside was a copy of the disputed amendment, a new statement from Charles, and a handwritten note.
Your father says you asked him to keep the allocation quiet.
I stared at the words.
No signature. No return address.
Madison read over my shoulder. “That isn’t true.”
“I know.”
Dominic turned the envelope over. “Who delivered it?”
The receptionist had seen a courier leave it at the front desk. The courier had not asked for a signature.
May you like
Nora called the delivery company. The tracking record showed the package had been created using an account belonging to the foundation’s former administrator.
That account had been closed six years ago.
