Page 69 of Cabins Cows Critics
“Yeah, apparently the board was looking for a loophole to try to have them take control or something. The guy they sent didn’t seem all that impressed by it.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, he said something about them wasting his time stalling with false promises of a revised will.”
“Wow, okay. But they knew where you were, your grandfather, the company, all of them, this whole time?”
“Yep.”
“Like they had people following you or something?” he asks, suddenly sitting up and anger flashing across his expression. I can’t say I hate seeing him fired up on my behalf.
“I guess so. I mean, I don’t think they’d pay a PI to monitor me every day, but I wouldn’t put it past them. Actually, now that I think about it, I’m surprised they didn’t just hire someone to move here and report back once I settled.”
“You don’t think they did that, do you?”
I glance around the bonfire. Other than the guests, I’ve known the rest of these guys for as long as I’ve lived on Beaker Brothers, and they’ve known each other even longer than that. Except for Skye. But there’s no way he was reporting back to my grandfather this whole time. That kid has the biggest heart of probably any of us out here.
“I think they probably sent someone to check in every couple of months. But it doesn’t matter. Their knowing I was here actually made this easier.”
“How so?”
“I didn’t have to go announcing myself to the media to get their attention.”
“You were going to?”
“Yeah, I figured it was probably the fastest way to find out if my grandfather actually did cut me out of everything.”
“And?”
“He redid his will about five years ago, wrote in my cousin as heir, which I expected, but given he was on the same plane, and had no kids, everything goes to me.”
“Everything?”
“Yep, the whole one-point-three-billion-dollar empire is apparently…mine.”
“I’m sorry, did you say one-point-three billion? As in B for bull, billion?”
I nod. That number does not really mean all that much to me. I mean, what does one-point-three billion dollars even look like, anyway?
“It’s mostly tied up in assets, but the beef sales last quarter alone were twelve million, I think he said.”
“That’s a lot of beef.”
“Yeah, the US exports hundreds of thousands of tons of beef per quarter.”
“And you’re supposed to run it all?”
“No. They have a board that manages most of it, but I’ll have to attend meetings sometimes and vote on any changes. I have the controlling vote on basically all of it.”
“So you’ll have to travel there?”
I shake my head.
“The guy they sent is going to set up an office in town. I think he’ll have a virtual thing set up at first or something. There were a lot of words. I have to meet him in Bellerelle the day after Christmas.”
“That’s when I’m supposed to leave, too.”
My heart picks up on the hope in that sentence and doubles its pace.
