Chapter 13 - Forty-Eight Hours
Thomas’s flight landed in Zurich the next morning.
Claire knew because Naomi tracked a corporate card he had forgotten to cancel.
No one knew why he had taken seventeen million dollars.
Diane claimed ignorance.
Claire no longer believed ignorance existed in her family.
The emergency hearing was scheduled for Friday.
The bank deadline was Monday.
Forty-eight hours separated Claire from losing control of the trust.
Julian stopped pretending.
He moved into the Halston.
His lawyer sent all communication through email.
Then Claire received an invitation to an emergency Mercer Hale board meeting.
Friday.
One hour after the trust hearing.
Claire recognized the plan.
If the court suspended her control, Julian would use the board meeting to approve the sale.
Naomi looked at the schedule.
“They built a tunnel.”
“Then we collapse it.”
Claire spent Thursday gathering evidence.
Dr. Warren produced medication logs proving someone had altered Evelyn’s prescription before the crash.
Martin found the original trust instrument.
Paige stopped answering Julian’s calls.
She had not become trustworthy.
But fear was making her useful.
At midnight, Paige arrived at Claire’s office.
She placed Julian’s second phone on the desk.
Claire stared at it.
“You stole this?”
“He left it in the hotel bathroom.”
“Why bring it to me?”
Paige looked exhausted.
“Because he never loved me.”
Claire said nothing.
Paige laughed at herself.
“I know how pathetic that sounds.”
“Yes.”
“He told me tonight that once the sale closes, he’s moving to London.”
“With you?”
“No.”
Claire almost felt the cruelty on Paige’s behalf.
Almost.
“He used you.”
Paige nodded.
“The same way he used you.”
“No.”
Claire’s voice became hard.
“Do not make us the same.”
Paige lowered her eyes.
“You’re right.”
The phone contained messages with bankers.
Investors.
Diane.
And one name Claire did not recognize.
M. VOSS.
The thread went back eighteen months.
Voss had provided Julian with private loans.
In exchange, Julian promised Hale properties as collateral.
The problem was obvious.
Julian had no authority to pledge them.
One message from Diane read:
GET CLAIRE’S SIGNATURE BEFORE FORTY.
Julian replied:
IF SHE REFUSES, WE USE THE CAPACITY PETITION.
The plan was older than the affair.
Claire stared at Paige.
“You knew this?”
“Not all of it.”
“But some.”
“Yes.”
Another message appeared.
It had been sent only two hours earlier.
From Voss.
YOUR WIFE’S FATHER IS IN ZURICH.
Julian responded.
HE WON’T BE COMING BACK.
Claire’s breath caught.
She immediately called Naomi.
“We need to find Thomas.”
Naomi read the messages.
“I’ll contact Zurich authorities.”
Claire looked at Paige.
“What did Thomas take?”
Paige’s expression shifted.
“I think I know.”
“Tell me.”
“Mom kept an account in Switzerland.”
“The seventeen million?”
Paige shook her head.
“No.”
“That account was a key.”
“A key to what?”
Paige swallowed.
“To the original Hale records.”
Claire stared at her.
“Why would Thomas need seventeen million to access records?”
“He didn’t.”
Paige looked terrified.
“He moved the money because it was the only way to trigger the bank’s dormant-account protocol.”
Claire’s pulse quickened.
“What happens when it triggers?”
“The bank contacts the true account owner.”
May you like
“Who is that?”
Paige whispered, “Evelyn.”
