Chapter 16 - THOMAS’S LETTER
Thomas Vance wrote the letter six months before he died. Sebastian, If your testing remains negative, I want you restored fully. Your mother thinks you need protection from pressure. I think pressure is something adults choose whether to carry.
Then: I regret writing health into governance. I was afraid of dying and made fear into law.
There. Dead founder admitting mistake.
Then: Do not let this company become proof of who loves this family most. That line hit everyone.
Sebastian cried. Eleanor cried too.
Why keep letter hidden? She said: “Because he was dying, and I thought I understood what he really meant better than the words.” There. Again.
Interpretation replacing consent. Then she admitted after his death she convinced herself Thomas would have changed mind.
Maybe. But he did not.
Then Sebastian said: “You stole a choice.” “Yes.”
No defense. Then he asked why she gave now.
“Because keeping it would mean I learned nothing.” That was probably true.
Then Sebastian chose not to sue over letter separately. Already trust corrected.
No need more war. Then he copied it for legal archive and kept original.
Not shrine. Family history.
Then he and Marcus read it together. Marcus said: “He would hate what we did.”
Sebastian answered: “He did some of it first.” True.
Then they laughed. Generational accountability.
Then Vance Holdings changed governance philosophy. No single family succession designation.
Skills matrix. Independent nominations.
Family shares still economic. Management professional. Boring. Healthy.
Then Sebastian eventually joined audit committee. Finance not his specialty, learned.
No automatic chair. Then he told me: “I used to think Mom stole a company from me.”
“What do you think now?” “She stole the chance to decide if I wanted it.”
Exactly. That distinction healed more than getting voting rights back.
Then Owen turned three. No signs of cardiac issue, which meant nothing definitive but reassuring.
Annual pediatric care normal. No Vance Foundation unless we chose.
May you like
We chose St. Matthew’s.
Eleanor did not comment. Good.
