Chapter 22 - DEREK TRIED TO GIVE THE SHARES TO EMMA
A letter arrived from prison.
Not to me.
To Allison.
Derek wanted to withdraw his objection.
All of it.
He consented to permanent transfer of the suspended units to Emma.
Too easy.
Janet immediately refused to accept.
Good.
Why?
Because Derek did not own the allocation decision anymore.
Section 18 had removed his control pending determination.
He could waive his own claims.
He could not decide:
give child everything.
That would bypass the Resident Stability obligation.
Then Derek asked to speak.
Not with Emma.
Not me.
With Janet and Allison.
Transcript later provided to me.
Derek said:
“I don’t care about the units.”
Probably untrue.
Then:
“I want Emma to have them.”
“Why?” Janet asked.
“She’s my daughter.”
“Was she your daughter when you opposed the suspension?”
Silence.
Retired judges.
Then Derek said:
“My family told me Hannah was taking them.”
There.
Still confused ownership.
“Hannah cannot access them,” Allison said.
“I know that now.”
Then:
“If Emma gets the units, does Hannah control the vote?”
“No.”
“Who?”
“Independent fiduciary until specified ages and conditions.”
Silence.
Apparently this was the first time he fully understood.
Then Derek asked:
“Can Emma ever sell them?”
“Yes, subject to trust terms.”
“Can she give them back?”
“When adult, perhaps some interests depending on structure.”
He became quiet.
Then:
“I don’t want her thinking I left her nothing.”
That was the real sentence.
Not money.
Legacy.
A father in prison trying to turn shares into evidence he once mattered.
Janet answered:
“Your daughter’s understanding of you is not an asset category.”
I almost sent her flowers.
Derek later withdrew his personal objection but did not direct allocation.
Good.
Then he made one useful disclosure.
His grandfather Edwin had once discussed Section 18 with him.
When Derek was twenty.
After a cousin was arrested for assaulting a girlfriend.
Edwin said:
Any man who needs family money to make a woman stay should lose access to family power before she loses access to a door.
Derek remembered.
He simply believed it would never apply to him.
That sentence became the emotional hinge.
Rules are often written for “people like that.”
Until someone realizes the category contains a mirror.
Then Derek admitted something else.
Marlene had repeatedly warned him during our marriage:
“Do not create a Section 18 problem.”
Not:
Do not hurt Hannah.
Not:
Do not pressure your wife.
Do not create a governance problem.
That distinction had shaped him.
Compliance without ethics.
Avoid consequences.
Not behavior.
Then the night of the attack—
when I refused the loan—
Derek’s first thought had not been Section 18.
Anger came first.
Then Marlene saw what he had done.
And immediately understood the corporate consequence.
That was why she moved so quickly to:
wipe my phone,
control the story,
frame accident,
delay police truth.
The clause did not cause the violence.
It shaped the cover-up.
Important.
No retcon absolving anyone.
Then Derek said:
“My mother cared more about shares than whether Hannah believed me.”
Janet answered:
“And you cared more about Hannah’s signature than whether she was safe.”
Silence.
Accurate.
May you like
No redemption speech followed.
Good.
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