Three days after the gala, Bartholomew arrived at my home carrying a sealed envelope with Sebastian’s handwriting across the front. He explained that my husband had instructed him to deliver it only after the Ellsworth family learned about the holding company. Inside was a short letter and a set of documents connected to one final asset Sebastian had never discussed with me. Years earlier, he had quietly purchased controlling interests in several companies that provided essential services to businesses owned by his relatives.
The revelation left me stunned. Sebastian had known exactly how dependent his family had become on contracts they assumed were guaranteed forever. The agreements were profitable, but several were approaching renewal. Technically, I now had the authority to end them. Rosalind apparently learned this too, because within hours my phone began filling with messages from people who had ignored me for six months. Suddenly, everyone wanted to “talk as a family.”
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