Chapter 5 - THE BLUE ROOM
Claire did not sleep.
At three in the morning, she stood outside the Whitmore estate’s blue drawing room.
Ethan had convinced the police to allow them inside while investigators remained on the property.
The portrait was exactly where Anna said it would be.
Jonathan Whitmore’s grandfather stared down from the wall.
Ethan helped Claire remove the heavy frame.
Behind it was a steel safe.
Claire entered her birthday.
41796.
The lock clicked.
Inside were three folders.
A bank ledger.
A sealed envelope.
And a small black key.
Claire opened the first folder.
Her birth certificate was inside.
Father.
Jonathan Alexander Whitmore.
Mother.
Anna Marie Bennett.
Claire stared at the document.
For twenty-nine years, the space beside “Father” on her official certificate had been blank.
Ethan opened the second folder.
It contained trust documents.
He read the first page.
Then the second.
His expression became stunned.
“What?”
Claire asked.
Ethan looked at her.
“Your father left you thirty-one percent of Whitmore Holdings.”
Claire almost dropped the papers.
“That’s impossible.”
“No.”
Ethan pointed to Jonathan’s signature.
“This trust activates when you turn thirty or when you independently discover your parentage.”
Claire’s thirtieth birthday was eight months away.
Ethan kept reading.
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“If Jonathan died before acknowledging you publicly, you also inherit his private voting shares.”
Claire looked at him.
“How much?”
“Enough to make you the largest individual shareholder in the company.”
The door opened behind them.
Eleanor’s daughter, Vanessa Whitmore, stood there.
She was thirty-two, elegant, and usually perfectly composed.
Tonight, she looked terrified.
“You need to put those papers back.”
Ethan stepped between Vanessa and Claire.
“How did you get in?”
Vanessa ignored him.
She looked at Claire.
“My mother will destroy you before she lets you take this family from her.”
Claire held the trust documents against her chest.
“Did you know?”
Vanessa looked away.
“About my father?”
Silence.
“About my mother?”
Vanessa’s eyes filled.
May you like
Then she whispered.
“I knew Anna didn’t die in that car.”
