CHAPTER 6 — THE EIGHTEEN PERCENT
Family attorney Adrian Shaw examined the stock certificates in silence.
“They are authentic,” he finally said.
Ethan stood beside the office window.
“What does eighteen percent give Claire?”
“With your personal holdings, enough voting power to block any sale, merger or board removal.”
Claire looked at the certificates.
“Why would Daniel give my mother that much control?”
“Because of the succession clause,” Adrian replied.
He opened the Blackwood family trust.
“If Daniel is legally alive when Ethan’s first child is born, all voting authority returns to Daniel until the child turns eighteen.”
“And if Daniel is dead?” Ethan asked.
“Control remains with the current board.”
Claire understood first.
“Margaret and Marcus lose everything if Daniel appears before the baby is born.”
Adrian nodded.
“They would also face an audit of every transaction made since his disappearance.”
The office doors suddenly opened.
Vanessa entered wearing dark glasses and a long black coat.
Ethan moved toward her.
“You put my wife on that floor.”
Vanessa removed her glasses. A bruise darkened one side of her face.
“I pulled the chair.”
Claire’s hand moved protectively over her stomach.
“You admit it?”
“My father ordered me to frighten you. He said you were blackmailing the family.”
“You drugged me.”
“No.”
Vanessa looked directly at Ethan.
“When I reached the hallway, Claire was already losing control of her legs. I pulled the chair because your mother was watching.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It was supposed to look like an accident. Margaret promised no one would be seriously hurt.”
Claire’s voice hardened.
“You stood over me and smiled.”
“Because there was a camera above us, and I needed Margaret to believe I was still following her orders.”
Vanessa placed a phone on Adrian’s desk.
It contained messages from Marcus Vale.
Get the key.
Keep Ethan away from St. Aldwyn.
The child cannot be born before the vote.
Ethan looked up sharply.
“Where is my father?”
Vanessa’s eyes filled with fear.
“I don’t know where they moved him. But I know who can find him.”
“Who?”
“Noah Reed.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“Noah disappeared.”
“He didn’t disappear. He went into hiding after copying the original footage.”
Vanessa opened a tracking application.
A signal blinked near an industrial district across the river.
“He is waiting at this location.”
Claire picked up her coat.
Adrian stopped her.
“You should stay somewhere secure.”
“There is nowhere secure.”
At that moment, Vanessa’s phone began playing a live video without anyone touching it.
The screen showed Claire’s hospital room from the previous night.
The camera angle came from inside the ceiling vent.
A message appeared beneath the footage.
YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE BROUGHT VANESSA TO THE LAWYER.
The office lights flickered.
When they returned, Vanessa was staring at the elevator doors.
They opened slowly.
Noah Reed’s phone lay on the floor inside.
The tracking signal was still active.
But the elevator was empty.
A new voice message began playing.
It was Noah.
“Ethan, do not trust Adrian Shaw.”
May you like
Everyone turned toward the attorney.
Adrian quietly locked the office door.
