The second document, the one Julian had prepared specifically for this occasion, the one his legal team had spent three days making airtight.
Every movement of funds within the family structure now required his approval. A double signature clause. Nothing moved, nothing transferred, nothing redirected without Julian Vale's name on it.
He signed that one too. The room temperature changed.
He could feel it without looking up, the particular shift of air that happens when people who came into a space believing they held something realise the thing is no longer in their hands.
"This is an outrage." Kalian's voice came measured but with something underneath it that was not quite controlled. "I am the head by right of seniority. I am within…"
"You are within your rights as a family member and board stakeholder," Julian said, looking up from the document with the calm expression of a man finishing a sentence someone else started incorrectly.
