Chapter 3 - The Page Julian Took
Bellamy Medical’s general counsel, Rebecca Shaw, met Sebastian at headquarters in Downers Grove at seven the next morning.
Julian’s access had been suspended overnight.
He had already downloaded seventeen files.
The transaction platform logged every document opened, downloaded, replaced, or deleted.
One item stood out.
Schedule 8.4 — Related-Party Disclosures.
The missing page from Sebastian’s folder belonged to that schedule.
Rebecca pulled up the electronic version.
The page listed several consulting firms receiving payments from Hartwell Clinical Logistics before the proposed acquisition.
One company was called Great Lakes Strategic Outreach LLC.
Sebastian had never heard of it.
The physical page Julian stole contained a handwritten note from Hartwell’s outside attorney:
Beneficial ownership still unverified. Buyer should not close until resolved.
“What does Great Lakes do?” Sebastian asked.
“According to the file? Government relations and community engagement.”
“How much?”
“Eighteen point seven million over three years.”
Sebastian sat back.
“Why wasn’t this flagged earlier?”
“It was.”
Rebecca looked uncomfortable.
“Julian told the deal team the vendor had already been cleared through your family foundation.”
“My foundation?”
“Your mother’s office provided a letter.”
Rebecca opened another file.
Bellamy Family Foundation stationery.
Eleanor’s signature.
It stated that Great Lakes Strategic Outreach had provided legitimate services to multiple Bellamy-affiliated charitable programs and was known to the family.
Sebastian read it twice.
“Mom doesn’t clear acquisition vendors.”
“Normally, no.”
“Who owns Great Lakes?”
“We’re working on it.”
The answer arrived twenty minutes later.
The Illinois Secretary of State records led through two registered agents and finally to a holding company controlled by Martin Vale.
Sebastian knew the name.
Vale had served for years as Eleanor’s private financial adviser.
Rebecca looked at him.
“That doesn’t prove your mother owns it.”
“No.”
But it proved the missing page mattered to her.
Clara arrived with her attorney, whom she had hired that morning without asking Sebastian.
That hurt.
He did not tell her.
Clara placed copies of the document Julian had asked her to sign on the conference table.
The first page was exactly what she described.
The second was not.
It stated that Clara had independently reviewed certain Hartwell related-party disclosures and found no conflicts requiring further investigation.
Her signature line was blank.
Rebecca went very still.
“If Clara signed this, it could be used to show that an independent compliance professional outside the company reviewed the payments.”
“I’m not independent,” Clara said. “I’m married to the CEO.”
“Exactly. Which makes it terrible compliance work.”
Sebastian looked at the page Julian stole.
Then at the document Clara refused to sign.
They were pieces of the same problem.
“Why Clara?” he asked.
Rebecca answered cautiously.
“Because she has a legitimate compliance background, no current Bellamy title, and a reason to have access through you.”
Clara’s face tightened.
“A convenient outsider.”
Sebastian remembered his mother’s dinner-table words.
Women who live off my son.
Eleanor despised Clara’s place in the family.
Yet someone had been preparing to use Clara’s professional reputation when it became useful.
Rebecca closed the door.
“There’s another problem.”
The digital transaction room contained an already completed compliance memorandum.
May you like
It carried Clara’s name.
And a signature that looked almost perfect.
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