Chapter 6 - The Whitmore WarThe meeting began at nine in the morning.
Charles sat at the head of a thirty-foot table in Whitmore Tower.
Twelve board members were waiting.
Then the doors opened.
Victoria entered first.
Claire walked beside her.
Samuel and two attorneys followed.
Charles stood.
“This is a private meeting.”
Victoria dropped a folder on the table.
“She potentially owns more shares than half the people in this room.”
Whispers erupted.
Charles’s expression hardened.
“Not yet.”
Claire sat down.
“Then you shouldn’t have a problem listening.”
Samuel presented the will.
The photographs.
The letters.
The recordings.
Finally, Charles’s attempt to purchase Thomas’s files.
Each new piece of evidence destroyed another part of his defense.
But Charles remained surprisingly calm.
When Samuel finished, he smiled.
“Is that everything?”
Victoria looked at him in disbelief.
“Dad…”
Charles pulled out a folder.
“Sarah Morgan signed a waiver.”
Claire froze.
“What?”
A document supposedly bore her mother’s signature, permanently renouncing any rights to Whitmore Holdings.
Charles pushed it toward her.
“Your mother didn’t want our money.”
Claire recognized something that looked like her signature.
For the first time, she felt they might lose.
Samuel examined the document.
“We’ll need a handwriting expert.”
Charles smiled.
“Of course.”
Then Claire noticed the date.
March 14, 2019.
And she began to laugh.
Everyone stared at her.
Charles frowned.
“What’s so funny?”
Claire lifted the document.
“My mother could not have signed this.”
“Why not?”
“Because on March 14, 2019, she was in surgery.”
Charles’s face changed.
Claire pulled out her phone.
“They were removing a tumor. She was under anesthesia for six hours.”
Silence.
“I have the medical records.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
Charles had fallen into his own trap.
Samuel looked at the signature.
“Another forgery.”
One of the board members stood.
“Charles, what the hell have you done?”
But the final blow came from the doorway.
Two federal investigators entered with security.
Thomas Hale had given copies of all his files to the authorities the night before.
Charles looked at Claire.
For the first time, he looked genuinely afraid.
She did not smile.
“My mother never wanted your money.”
May you like
She stepped closer.
“But she didn’t want you to keep lying either.”
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