Chapter 4: The Letters Behind the Lock
Eleanor blocked the study doorway.
“Step away, Victor.”
“You don’t know what Rose put in there.”
“That is precisely why I’m opening it.”
Victor caught her wrist.
“You are making a scene you cannot undo.”
Noah stepped forward, but Naomi held him back.
Eleanor looked down at Victor’s hand.
“Release me.”
A man’s voice came from the corridor.
“Take your hand off my mother.”
Julian Harcourt crossed the room and stood between them.
Victor released Eleanor at once.
“Julian, these people arrived with a rehearsed story.”
“I heard enough from the hall.”
“You heard children repeating Rose’s lies.”
Julian looked at the boys, then at the photograph beneath the tree.
“They have her eyes.”
Victor gave a cold laugh.
“So does half the family.”
Eleanor fitted the brass key into Richard’s desk.
The lock clicked.
Inside lay a bundle of envelopes tied with blue ribbon.
Every one was addressed to Eleanor in Rose’s handwriting.
Julian picked up the first envelope.
“Return to sender,” he read.
Eleanor turned it over.
“That is not my signature.”
“It looks like yours,” Victor said.
“I have signed my name for seventy-three years.
I know when someone else has copied it.”
A woman in a dark green dress came to the desk.
Miriam Cole, the family attorney, removed one envelope from its sleeve.
“This postal mark shows it reached the estate.”
Victor folded his arms.
“Rose could have arranged that.”
Miriam opened another drawer and found a document bearing the seal of Eleanor’s late father.
“This is the original trust amendment.”
Victor lunged for it.
Julian caught his arm.
“Not this time.”
Miriam read the first page.
“Rose and her lawful descendants retain half of the family voting shares.
Those rights cannot be transferred, surrendered or administered by another trustee without Rose’s signed consent.”
Eleanor faced Victor.
“You told the board Rose had surrendered her claim.”
“She did.”
“Then show us her consent.”
“It is held by my office.”
“Your office is downstairs,” Julian said.
“Go and get it.”
Victor removed his phone.
“I don’t answer to you.”
“No,” Miriam said.
“You answer to the beneficiaries whose assets you control.”
Victor tapped the screen.
“Mr.
Hayes, bring estate security to the study.”
Naomi gathered the boys around her.
“What are you doing?”
“Removing trespassers.”
“They are beneficiaries,” Miriam said.
“That has not been established.
Eleanor is distressed, and I hold her emergency financial authority.”
Eleanor stared at him.
“I never gave you authority over my children.”
“You signed it after Richard’s funeral.”
“I signed temporary management papers.”
“You signed what was placed before you.”
Two security officers appeared at the door.
Victor pointed toward Naomi and the boys.
“Escort them from the property.”
Sam began to cry.
Eleanor reached for him, but Victor lifted a document from his phone.
“If you interfere, I will petition the court tonight and state that you are no longer capable of managing this estate.”
Julian’s face went pale.
“You wouldn’t.”
“I already called the judge’s clerk.”
For one terrible moment, nobody moved.
Victor’s smile returned as the officers approached the children.
Then Julian’s wife, Celeste, locked the study door behind them.
“Don’t touch those boys,” she said.
Victor turned.
“Stay out of this.”
“I can’t.
I sent the security recording, Rose’s letters and that trust amendment to three separate people.”
His smile vanished.
May you like
Celeste raised her phone.
“And one of them is waiting for you to lie again.”
