Chapter 21 - CHARLES UNDER OATH
Charles’s deposition lasted seven hours.
Naomi:
“Did you authorize creation of the extended proxy?”
“Yes.”
“Did Rachel sign it?”
“I believed she had agreed.”
“Did you see her sign?”
“No.”
“Did you call her?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“She was grieving.”
“You thought calling would upset her?”
“Yes.”
“Yet you thought committing her economic interest for years would not?”
Charles stared.
Then the lender acknowledgment.
“Did Rachel approve?”
“I believed the family had consensus.”
“Family consensus is not Rachel’s signature, correct?”
Silence.
“Correct.”
Then Sylvia’s document.
“Did you request evidence supporting removal of Rachel as family representative?”
“I asked Sylvia to document concerns.”
“Did you want Rachel removed?”
“If necessary for Nina.”
“For Nina or the company?”
Charles became angry.
“They are connected.”
There.
Exactly.
“No,” Naomi said. “They are not the same thing.”
Charles looked at her as though she did not understand family.
That was the problem.
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He believed the company and Nina were one system.
Daniel had designed the trust precisely because they were not.
