Chapter 5 - THE FILE IN HIS GRANDFATHER’S OFFICEBefore he vanished, Julian had been helping inventory his late grandfather’s private archive.
He found an envelope.
Inside:
DNA reports.
An old adoption petition.
Letters between Arthur Sr. and a woman named Evelyn Shaw.
The documents suggested Charles Blackwood was not Arthur Sr.’s biological son.
Arthur was.
Charles wasn’t.
Normally that would matter emotionally.
Here, it mattered legally.
The oldest version of the Founder Trust limited the controlling block to biological descendants of Arthur Sr.
Later amendments softened some language.
But one portion—the founder-voting reserve—still depended on biological lineage.
If Charles was not Arthur Sr.’s biological son, his branch could lose significant governance rights.
Who would gain?
Arthur’s branch.
And eventually Julian.
Julian realized the family succession everyone accepted for decades might be legally wrong.
He confronted Victoria first.
A mistake.
He believed his mother would help him tell Arthur.
Instead, Victoria panicked.
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Why?
Because Victoria had made her own deal with Charles years earlier.
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