Chapter 4 - NORTHSTARGrant called the family attorney.
Not the current one.
The old one.
Samuel Price had served Harrison Holloway for decades before retiring.
At first, he refused to speak.
Then Grant played part of Laurel’s tape.
Samuel went quiet.
“Come to my office.”
Northstar Holdings had been created by Laurel’s grandfather, Theodore Mercer.
Mercer Hotels once owned twelve coastal properties.
Harrison Holloway’s company was smaller then.
Twenty-eight years earlier, Holloway Hospitality and Mercer Hotels entered a joint venture.
Harrison later married neither Mercer nor any relative.
The companies remained distinct.
Then Grant married Laurel.
Everyone celebrated it as romance between two old hospitality families.
It was romance.
But Harrison saw something else.
Consolidation.
Laurel owned a protected forty-six-percent interest in Northstar through a Mercer family trust.
Harrison’s company managed the properties but did not own her block.
When Wren was born, Laurel updated the trust.
If Laurel died, her Northstar interest passed irrevocably for Wren’s benefit.
Professional trustees.
Not Grant.
Not Harrison.
Not a future spouse.
Wren.
Current value?
Approximately $460 million.
Grant stared.
“My daughter owns nearly half a billion dollars?”
Samuel corrected:
“She is beneficiary of a trust holding assets currently estimated around that amount.”
Important difference.
But still.
Grant whispered:
“She’s six.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t I know?”
“Laurel requested confidentiality while negotiating with Harrison.”
“What negotiation?”
Samuel looked away.
Harrison had been trying to merge Northstar fully into Holloway Group.
He wanted control of Laurel’s block.
She refused.
Then discovered accounting irregularities.
Holloway Group had been charging Northstar excessive management fees.
Related-party consulting.
Property expenses.
Debt allocation.
About $31 million over eight years.
Laurel demanded repayment.
Harrison insisted the accounting was legitimate.
The dispute escalated.
Then Laurel crashed.
And suddenly Harrison had a problem.
Her death activated Wren’s trust.
He could no longer pressure Laurel.
A child’s independent trustees stood in his way.
Unless Laurel signed a transfer before dying.
Grant’s hands began shaking.
“The papers on the tape.”
Samuel nodded.
“Likely a marital consolidation agreement.”
“Would it have worked?”
“Not easily.”
“But?”
“Enough ambiguity could create years of litigation.”
That was all Harrison needed.
Delay.
Negotiation.
Leverage.
Grant finally understood.
The chamber had not been about keeping Laurel hidden forever.
It was a pressure room.
Sign.
Then hospital.
May you like
Except something happened before that second step.
Laurel never reached a hospital.
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