Chapter 6 - Eleven Percent
Her father had been a biomedical engineer who helped fund Beacon's earliest prototype before he died, leaving her his shares. She'd never been involved operationally — but under the shareholder agreement, her approval was required before any buyer could carve Beacon out into a separately controlled subsidiary within five years of acquisition.
The exact structure Preston wanted me to sign depended entirely on her consent.
"Did Preston contact you about this?" I asked.
"Last month."
My stomach dropped. "What did he say?"
"That Cole Dynamics wanted to protect Beacon."
"Did he know who you were to me?"
She looked at me hard. "He absolutely knew."
She showed me another email. Julian is aware of your history but believes personal matters should stay separate from the transaction.
I felt sick. He'd used my name again.
"He asked me to sign a consent in advance," she said.
May you like
"Did you?"
"No. The new structure moved Beacon away from Ellison's clinical team." She'd seen exactly what I hadn't. Preston wanted the technology isolated inside a subsidiary he alone controlled. The platform I thought I was buying to protect its mission was being repositioned for a personal carveout.
