Then whispered.
“He never told me.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
“I know.”
Naomi looked toward the photograph.
For a moment, sadness and anger moved across her face.
Then she asked.
“Why didn't you help him come back?”
The question struck Arthur.
He stared.
For several seconds, he remained silent.
Finally, he answered.
“I should have tried harder.”
Naomi looked toward him.
He continued.
“I believed Samuel needed to resolve his family matters privately. I respected his request not to interfere.”
His voice trembled.
“But I also knew he was allowing the years to pass.”
Naomi stared at the table.
Arthur continued.
“After he died, I assumed the estate lawyers had handled everything. I never asked whether you received the documents he prepared.”
Tears filled his eyes.
“I spent decades asking whether Northstar's reports were accurate, and I failed to ask whether my friend's daughter was being treated fairly.”
Naomi swallowed.
For a long moment, she remained silent.
Then she looked toward him.
“I don't know what to do with that.”
Arthur nodded.
“I understand.”
He didn't ask for forgiveness.
Didn't explain why his good intentions should excuse his failure.
He simply accepted that Naomi had a right to be angry.
Then he placed another document on the table.
It was a certified copy of an early Northstar governance resolution.
The special committee had located it during the investigation.
Arthur pointed toward a paragraph.
“Your father insisted that the founder stewardship provisions survive changes in management.”
Naomi read.
Then looked up.
Arthur continued.
“Samuel wanted the company to be able to grow. He wasn't trying to freeze it in 1998.”
She nodded.
“He wrote that in his letter.”
Arthur smiled faintly.
“Yes.”
Then his expression became serious.
“But he didn't want the board to trade away the public-benefit commitments without a valid, transparent decision.”
Naomi looked toward the document.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then she asked.
“What happens now?”
Arthur took a breath.
“We determine the trust's rights properly. We examine the transaction. We correct the records. And then we decide what is genuinely best for the company within the obligations it has.”
Naomi nodded.
“And Graham?”
Arthur's expression hardened.
“He'll be accountable for whatever the evidence establishes.”
She looked toward him.
For a moment, she seemed uncertain.
Then whispered.
“I don't want revenge.”
Arthur nodded.
“Neither do I.”
He looked toward Samuel's photograph.
Then added.
“But I do want the truth.”