The Proviso Read Online Free PDF Page A

department as his personal errand boys, nor
did he have enough political power to put a man in the Senate.
    Bryce did tend to forget that his opinion of
the CEO of OKH Enterprises differed greatly from everyone else’s.
Bryce shouldn’t have been surprised at Arlene’s vehemence. She
idolized Boss Tom, too.
    “And,” she added, “I would think you of all
people would know better than to assume someone’s guilty just
because everything points in his direction.”
    His eyebrow rose at that, just enough to let her
know she’d gone too far. Her mouth tightened and she turned to walk
out of his office. He would’ve fired anyone else for saying that,
true or not.
    He went back to his paper.
     
    *
     
    According to the terms of the proviso Knox
Hilliard’s father had secretly approved and slipped into the
corporate charter just days before his death, Knox Hilliard’s
inheritance of OKH Enterprises is guaranteed so long as he is
married and has a child by his 40th birthday.
    When WSJ asked Fen Hilliard what these terms meant
for his leadership, he said, “It’s my great pleasure to safeguard
my nephew’s inheritance for him. I’m looking forward to the handoff
so I can pursue other opportunities and maybe go fishing.”
    There is some concern that Fen Hilliard’s decision
to take the company public some years ago has actually made an end
run around the proviso, but legal experts who have studied the
clause have come to the consensus that Knox Hilliard will be
entitled to the majority shares the company holds for itself and
will be its de facto CEO at that point, and that his claim would
hold up in court if challenged.
    However, if Knox Hilliard does not fulfill the terms
of the proviso, Fen Hilliard will remain at its helm
indefinitely.
    To complicate matters, Knox Hilliard’s cousin,
financier Sebastian Taight, suddenly began to acquire OKHE stock at
a steady pace two years ago. Taight is known across the country for
his “Fix-or-Raid” protocol with regard to troubled companies that
hire his consulting services. What he plans to do with OKH
Enterprises, whether Knox Hilliard inherits or not, is unknown and
Taight has refused to comment.
    To date, Knox Hilliard’s wedding and announcement of
a birth are the most anticipated social events on Wall Street and
financial quarters across the country, especially as the deadline,
Knox Hilliard’s 40th birthday, looms. If he fulfills the terms of
the proviso, his net worth could increase by as much as a half
billion dollars.
     
    *
     
    Bryce didn’t think Fen should’ve been released so
easily from questioning since he had so much to gain from Leah’s
death. Lucky bastard. No, not lucky. Scheming, thorough,
untouchable.
    Just like Knox.
    Bryce’s lip curled with cynical resentment. Bryce
had spent days in interrogation for the murders of his wife
and four children because he’d had so much to gain from his wife’s
death. He’d been charged and his criminal trial docketed before the
fire investigator had come back with the evidence that cleared
him.
    No, Knox hadn’t killed Leah; he had everything to
lose, but it wouldn’t matter. Every lawyer in town joked that the
FBI had been back and forth to the Chouteau County prosecutor’s
office so many times, the Missouri Department of Transportation had
to repave that section of highway every six months.
    The successor to an already corrupt prosecutor’s
office and blatantly continuing the tradition, Knox lived under the
FBI’s microscope. Despite that, he had a reputation as the best
prosecutor in the ten major counties that made up the Kansas City
metro area. His true talent, though, lay in turning baby lawyers
into courtroom lions; his name on an attorney’s CV guaranteed a
stellar career path. Under Knox’s leadership, the Chouteau County
prosecutor’s office had evolved into a residency program for
litigators whose tales of corruption and dirty money had yet to be
substantiated by the feds.
    Knox Hilliard: