Chapter 5
Logan cooperated only after he realized his father’s emails had been preserved.
His first interview was defensive.
“I didn’t beat a kid.”
“You punched a seven-year-old.”
“He was supposed to block.”
“Was he trained?”
“No.”
“Was he wearing gloves?”
“No.”
“Did you tell him you were going to hit him?”
“I told him to stand up.”
The detective stared at him.
Logan eventually stopped trying to make the sentence sound better.
He admitted Grant had told him Claire was “babying” Noah and that the neighborhood demonstration would prove the boy needed tougher male influence.
He also admitted Grant expected Claire to intervene.
“What did your father tell you to do when she did?”
Logan looked down.
“Challenge her.”
“To what?”
“Spar.”
“Why?”
“He said she’d either back down or lose her temper.”
There.
“And if she lost her temper?”
“I thought it was about embarrassing her.”
“Before Tuesday’s vote?”
Logan hesitated.
“I knew Dad wanted her off the company vote.”
“How?”
“He said if she assaulted me on camera, the trust bank would have to review whether a combat-trained officer should control family shares.”
Logan understood more than he first admitted.
Then the detective asked:
“Why hit Noah?”
Logan swallowed.
“Dad said Claire wouldn’t fight over an insult.”
“So?”
“He said she would over Noah.”
No one spoke for several seconds.
Logan’s attorney requested a break.
When they returned, the detective asked one final question.
“Did Grant tell you to injure Noah?”
“No.”
“What did he say?”
“Make it real enough that Claire doesn’t think.”
That sentence reached Claire later through discovery.
She sat silently for a long time.
Rebecca asked:
“You okay?”
“No.”
Good answer.
Then something else came from Logan.
Grant had been meeting privately with corporate counsel about more than the acquisition.
He was worried about Claire’s expanded forensic request.
She had asked to trace five years of payments between Bennett Response, Bennett Forge, Grant-controlled vendors, and Logan’s promotional entities.
The board had scheduled a vote Wednesday on whether to authorize that full review.
Claire’s Descendant Trust shares were important there too.
Grant did not only need Tuesday’s acquisition.
He needed Wednesday’s audit vote contained.
Rebecca frowned.
“If Claire is temporarily suspended, Grant can potentially participate in both.”
“Yes.”
“But he is conflicted.”
“The bank could still block him.”
“So again—we’re missing the operational step.”
Then a board secretary found a draft resolution Grant had circulated privately.
Upon material governance dispute involving the Family Representative, defer related-party forensic review until fiduciary authority is clarified.
There it was.
May you like
He did not need to win the audit vote.
He needed to make Claire herself part of the reason the audit was delayed.
