Chapter 5
Lucinda called the proxies ordinary family protection.
Sebastian called them undisclosed leverage.
They met in Claire’s office.
No estate.
No capos.
No family audience.
Lucinda wore a plain dark dress rather than the jewelry-heavy formal outfits she preferred.
She looked less like a matriarch.
More like a director under investigation.
“Those relatives were going to sell shares outside the family.”
“Some were.”
“I stopped it.”
“With borrowed money secured partly by misrepresented art.”
Her attorney, Rebecca, intervened.
“That characterization remains under review.”
Sebastian nodded.
“Fine.”
He looked at Lucinda.
“Did they have to give you proxies to receive help?”
“No.”
“Did all five?”
Lucinda hesitated.
“Four.”
Claire wrote it down.
Sebastian continued.
“Why?”
“Because I was protecting the assets that made the rescue possible.”
“You weren’t the lender.”
“I controlled the committee.”
“That is exactly the problem.”
Lucinda leaned forward.
“You want to know the real problem? You have spent ten years pretending this is a corporation that happens to share a surname.”
Sebastian said nothing.
“It isn’t. It is a family that happens to own corporations.”
“That distinction does not permit fake provenance.”
“We do not know that I changed anything.”
Claire slid Henry Marshall’s invoice across the table.
Lucinda looked at it.
Her face changed.
Very slightly.
Sebastian saw.
“You knew the vase was a reproduction.”
“I knew there had been restoration questions.”
“You offered Henry ten thousand dollars to clear out old files.”
“I offered to purchase archive material related to the collection.”
“Why privately?”
“It was efficient.”
Sebastian almost smiled.
“Fraud loves efficiency.”
Rebecca objected.
Lucinda ignored her.
“You think this is about Preston’s four million dollars.”
“Isn’t it?”
Her eyes flicked away.
One second.
Enough.
Sebastian noticed.
“Then tell me what it is about.”
Lucinda stood.
“This meeting is over.”
After she left, Claire looked at Sebastian.
“She’s protecting something larger.”
“Yes.”
“Do not decide what.”
“I know.”
“You’re getting irritatingly trainable.”
He ignored her.
The provenance review continued.
The old records showed the vase had been correctly classified as a reproduction until eleven years earlier.
The change to “heavily restored original” happened during a software migration.
The person who approved the migrated record was not Lucinda.
It was a retired collection manager named Thomas Wynn.
Sebastian found him.
Thomas did not remember the vase specifically.
But he remembered being given handwritten correction sheets by Lucinda’s assistant.
“She said old descriptions were inconsistent.”
“Did you verify them?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Thomas looked ashamed.
“Lucinda had run the collection longer than I had.”
That answer was becoming familiar.
Authority replacing verification.
Three years ago, when the vase was reappraised as nearly four million dollars, Preston recommended the valuation firm.
The appraiser was reputable.
But the appraisal relied on provenance documents supplied by the Caradonna heritage office.
If those documents were wrong, the valuation would be wrong.
No dramatic forgery required.
Just curated paperwork.
The next clue came from one of the rescued shareholders.
Maria Caradonna had received $300,000 from the stabilization account.
She had signed no proxy.
“Lucinda asked?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“I said no.”
“What happened?”
“The money was still approved.”
That surprised Sebastian.
“So she wasn’t buying every vote.”
“No.”
“Did she ask again?”
“Twice.”
“What did she say?”
“That a family fighting over control would destroy itself.”
“Control of what?”
Maria looked uncomfortable.
“Everything.”
She then showed Sebastian an email Lucinda had sent six months earlier.
Next year’s governance vote will decide whether the Caradonna family remains a family or becomes another managed portfolio.
May you like
Sebastian read it twice.
The annual governance vote was seven weeks away.
