Chapter 6 - The Firm My Mother Took Away From Conrad Morrow
I had grown up believing my mother built Northstar Holdings from nothing.
That was the family story.
She had started small.
Bought distressed industrial debt.
Reinvested.
Expanded.
By the time I was in college, Northstar controlled interests in logistics, manufacturing, healthcare, and energy.
After her death, I inherited it.
I never questioned the origin story.
Malcolm did.
He sat across from me in the annex while the ballroom celebration quietly collapsed outside.
“Northstar existed before your mother became majority owner.”
“How long?”
“Six years.”
“Who founded it?”
“Conrad Morrow and your mother.”
I stared at him.
“Together?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
“I don’t know.”
That bothered me.
Malcolm had known my mother professionally for decades.
If she had hidden Conrad from me, there was a reason.
He continued.
“They built the original fund together. She handled operations and diligence. Conrad raised capital.”
“What happened?”
“They split.”
“Over what?”
“Control.”
That sounded too simple.
“Try again.”
Malcolm sighed.
“There were accusations.”
“What kind?”
“That Conrad was moving investor money through related companies without disclosure.”
My chest tightened.
Circular transactions.
Exactly what Franklin had just found inside Aurelia.
“Did she prove it?”
“Enough to force him out.”
“How?”
“Your mother gathered voting support from the other partners and bought his interest at a discount.”
“So he lost Northstar.”
“He believed it was stolen from him.”
“And now Northstar owns Aurelia.”
“Yes.”
Franklin turned his laptop toward me.
“Morrow has been financing Aurelia’s debt for three years.”
“Why would Julian cooperate with him?”
“That’s what we need to establish.”
I looked toward the closed door.
Julian had spent three years telling me Aurelia’s problems were caused by weak leadership and bad luck.
What if he had helped create them?
If Aurelia became distressed enough, Morrow could gain leverage through debt.
But Northstar’s acquisition disrupted that.
Unless Northstar buying Aurelia had been the goal all along.
I thought of Naomi’s draft.
Your husband is using Aurelia’s debt to force your company into a specific transaction.
Maybe they wanted my money inside Aurelia.
Not simply my ownership.
Maybe they wanted Northstar exposed.
Elaine checked her phone.
“Hotel security found Naomi’s car.”
“Where?”
“Parking garage level four.”
“Is she there?”
“No.”
My pulse jumped.
“Phone?”
“On the driver’s seat.”
“Any sign of violence?”
“They haven’t said.”
I stood.
“We’re going.”
Elaine stopped me.
“Hotel security already called local police.”
Good.
This was no longer just corporate misconduct.
A missing employee mattered more than protecting the evening’s optics.
We reached the garage with hotel security.
Naomi’s sedan sat crooked in its space.
Driver door unlocked.
Her purse remained on the passenger seat.
Phone on the floor.
No Naomi.
A coffee cup lay shattered near the rear wheel.
Franklin noticed something taped beneath the steering column.
A flash drive.
Naomi had hidden another copy.
Hotel security documented it before we removed it.
Back upstairs, Franklin opened the drive offline.
Only six files.
One was audio.
Naomi’s voice.
“If you’re hearing this, I got scared enough to make a second copy.”
She sounded exhausted.
“I’ve worked for Julian for five years. I covered meetings, travel, vendor calls, personal appointments. At first I thought he was cheating on his wife and stealing company money.”
My throat tightened.
“Then I heard him talking to Conrad Morrow.”
Franklin looked at me.
The recording continued.
“Julian told Morrow that Audrey had finally taken the bait.”
I stopped breathing.
Naomi’s voice shook.
“He said, ‘She thinks she’s saving Aurelia.’”
Elaine whispered, “Oh my God.”
Then Naomi said, “Morrow answered, ‘Good. Once Northstar closes, her money is trapped where we need it.’”
The recording cut for three seconds.
When it returned, Naomi continued.
“I don’t know what that means. But I found a file Julian keeps off-network. It’s called Project Widow.”
My hands went cold.
Widow.
Elaine stared at me.
Naomi continued.
“Camilla knows about the vendor money. Richard knows about the trust documents. But Project Widow has only three names on the access list.”
Julian.
Conrad Morrow.
And one redacted name.
Naomi added, “I tried to copy it. Julian caught me.”
A door opened in the background.
Her voice dropped.
“If something happens to me, the password to my archive is the date Audrey’s mother died.”
The recording ended.
Silence.
I stared at the laptop.
Project Widow.
My mother’s death date as a password.
Someone had designed this around my family long before the anniversary party.
I entered the date.
The archive opened.
One folder.
Inside was a photograph taken three months earlier outside my Boston home.
Julian stood beside Conrad Morrow.
They were shaking hands.
And between them stood Richard Sloane.
My mother’s attorney.
On the back of the scanned photograph, someone had written:
May you like
PHASE ONE COMPLETE—AUDREY MARRIED.
📖 Read how “Project Widow” proved my marriage was part of a plan—and what the first recovered file showed Julian had been tracking inside my trust in CHAPTER 7. 👇
