Chapter 8 - The Secret My Mother Took to Her Grave
Richard refused to explain anything until the board meeting was formally convened.
Nathan advised me not to engage with him.
But I couldn't stop thinking about the ring.
My mother had died when I was sixteen.
I remembered her as warm, funny, and endlessly patient.
She had been the kind of woman who remembered birthdays, made pancakes on Sunday mornings, and kept handwritten notes tucked inside birthday cards.
She had never mentioned a second inheritance.
At least, not that I remembered.
The board meeting began at 10:00 the following morning.
Richard sat at the far end of the table.
Vanessa sat beside him.
Daniel did not attend.
He had been formally suspended from executive duties.
Richard presented the alleged share-transfer agreement.
His attorney argued that the document had been executed voluntarily and witnessed by a licensed notary.
Nathan challenged its authenticity.
Then Richard made his move.
He produced a video recording.
The screen showed me sitting in my old home office.
I was wearing the blue blouse I had worn six months earlier.
My signature appeared on a document.
Then the video ended.
I stared at the screen.
"That's not real."
Richard folded his hands.
"Are you certain?"
"Yes."
He smiled.
"Then explain why the recording shows you signing."
Nathan leaned forward.
"The footage appears to have been edited."
Richard shrugged.
"Prove it."
I watched the footage again.
Something was wrong with the clock on the wall.
It showed 2:17 p.m.
But I remembered that day.
At 2:17, I had been at the hospital visiting a former employee.
I turned toward Nathan.
"Check my appointment records. I was at St. Vincent's."
Richard's expression tightened.
For the first time, he looked uncertain.
Nathan immediately contacted the hospital.
Then I noticed another detail.
The office chair in the recording was different.
The painting behind me was also missing.
The footage had been created using an old video from my company's security archive.
Someone had digitally altered it.
Richard closed his folder.
"Regardless, the transfer agreement stands."
"Not without authentication," Nathan replied.
The directors began whispering.
Then the conference room doors opened.
Daniel walked in.
He looked exhausted.
His eyes found mine immediately.
"Claire."
I said nothing.
He approached the table and placed a small flash drive in front of Nathan.
"This contains the original financial agreements."
Richard stood.
"Daniel, don't."
Daniel ignored him.
"The debt arrangement was never legitimate. Richard created a duplicate contract using forged signatures."
Vanessa stared at him.
"You said you wouldn't do this."
Daniel turned toward her.
"You told me it was temporary."
"It was."
"You said the money would be returned."
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
"Because you wanted to believe me."
Nathan inserted the flash drive.
Several files appeared.
Emails.
Financial records.
Voice recordings.
Then a scanned letter.
My mother's handwriting.
I reached for it.
The first line made my knees weak.
My darling Claire,
If you ever find this letter, I need you to know that your grandmother did not tell you everything about your father's death.
I read the page in silence.
My mother had discovered that Edward Hawthorne and Richard Voss were involved in a financial dispute with my father.
My father had uncovered an illegal transfer involving a property trust.
He had threatened to report them.
The night of the accident, he was on his way to meet an attorney.
My mother believed the brakes on his car had been deliberately tampered with.
She had never been able to prove it.
The next morning, she had taken me to Eleanor's house and begged her to protect me.
Eleanor promised she would.
But there was more.
My mother had created a separate trust in my name.
It contained a property portfolio and shares in several private companies.
One of those companies had a controlling stake in a financial institution that had provided Hawthorne's original credit line.
I looked up.
"How much is the trust worth?"
Nathan checked the attached valuation.
"Approximately forty-two million dollars."
Richard's face went white.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Vanessa whispered something under her breath.
Then Nathan opened the final document.
A handwritten note had been attached.
It was addressed to me.
And it contained one sentence.
The person who arranged your father's accident is not the person you think.
I looked at Daniel.
May you like
He was already looking at me.
And the expression on his face told me he knew exactly who that person was.
