Chapter 4 - The Missing Nine Hundred Thousand
The door stopped turning.
Claire didn't breathe.
“Claire,” Charles said from the hallway.
His voice sounded different.
Not angry.
Afraid.
She looked at Dominic's name on her phone.
“What do I do?”
“Don't open it.”
“But he's my father.”
“That's exactly why you shouldn't.”
Claire stepped away from the door.
Charles spoke again.
“Someone is trying to frame you.”
Claire froze.
“How does he know?”
Dominic didn't answer.
Because the question had already answered itself.
Charles knew.
He knew about the missing money.
He knew about the forged account.
And somehow he knew Claire was investigating.
The knocking stopped.
Then Charles said quietly:
“They're coming for you.”
Claire whispered, “Who?”
No answer.
Footsteps moved away.
She waited.
Then opened the door.
The hallway was empty.
On the floor was a small envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Claire recognized the man immediately.
It was Charles.
Standing beside a warehouse.
Beside him was a man Claire had never seen before.
On the back of the photograph was a date.
Nine years earlier.
The month after Anne Whitmore died.
Claire sat down on the floor.
Nine years.
The exact amount of time she had worked at Whitmore Freight.
She turned the photograph over again.
There was another sentence.
YOUR MOTHER KNEW.
Claire's hands went cold.
Her mother.
Anne.
Dead for fifteen years.
What could she have known?
Dominic arrived twenty minutes later.
He entered with two security men.
He looked at Claire.
“You're safe now.”
She handed him the photograph.
His expression changed.
“Where did you get this?”
“It was outside my door.”
Dominic studied it.
“I know this man.”
Claire looked at him.
“Who?”
“Victor Hale.”
“What does he do?”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“He used to work for me.”
Claire stood.
“Used to?”
“He disappeared nine years ago.”
She stared at the photograph.
“Why was he with my father?”
Dominic didn't answer.
Instead, he looked around the apartment.
“You need to leave.”
“No.”
“Claire.”
“No.”
Her voice became firmer.
“I've spent nine years being told to stay quiet.”
Dominic looked at her.
“I won't.”
He nodded slowly.
“Then you're coming with me.”
“Where?”
“My private office.”
Claire hesitated.
“Why?”
“Because if Victor Hale is involved, this is no longer just about your father's company.”
They left.
At Dominic's office, Claire examined the company's records.
Within an hour, she found something.
A shell corporation.
Registered nine years ago.
Its owner was hidden behind three layers of trusts.
But the first director listed in an old document was Victor Hale.
Claire stared at the screen.
“That's him.”
Dominic nodded.
She opened another file.
Then another.
Her eyes widened.
“Dominic.”
“What?”
“This company owns twenty-eight percent of Whitmore Freight.”
He stared at her.
“That's impossible.”
“No.”
Claire pointed at the document.
“It's been hidden through subsidiaries.”
Dominic leaned closer.
Then he saw the final line.
Beneficial owner:
ANNE WHITMORE.
Claire stopped breathing.
“My mother?”
Dominic looked at her.
“She was never just Charles's wife.”
Claire's eyes filled with tears.
Then another document appeared on screen.
A transfer from Anne's account.
Dated three days before her death.
Amount:
$12,000,000.
Recipient:
CLAIRE WHITMORE TRUST.
Claire stared.
“I don't have a trust.”
Dominic looked at the date.
Then at her.
“You were supposed to.”
Before Claire could speak, his assistant rushed into the room.
“Boss.”
Dominic turned.
“What?”
“We found the original bank records.”
He placed them on the desk.
“There was a second beneficiary.”
Claire looked down.
Her name was printed first.
Then another name beneath it.
Dominic's face changed.
Claire whispered, “Who is that?”
The assistant swallowed.
“The person who received the money after your mother died.”
He placed one final document on the desk.
May you like
And Claire saw her father's signature beneath the words—
TRANSFER OF BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP...
