Chapter 7 - THE INHERITANCE CLAUSE
Conrad’s voice came through the old ballroom speakers.
“Your father left you controlling interest in Cole Industries.”
“I know.”
“No. You know the public will.”
She motioned for the tactical team to trace the signal.
“There is a private codicil.”
“What does it say?”
“If you produce a biological heir before age thirty-five, twenty-eight percent of the Mercer-Cole holding company transfers into a descendant trust.”
His thirty-fifth birthday was four months away.
“She already triggered it.”
“Yes.”
“Then why hasn’t anything transferred?”
“Because her existence was concealed.”
Nathan clenched his jaw.
“My father concealed her.”
“Correct.”
“So he committed fraud against his own trust.”
“Your father believed he could solve the problem before it mattered.”
Nathan’s blood chilled.
“What problem?”
“Grace.”
Nathan took a step forward.
“Where is she?”
“Victoria was supposed to become your wife. A child with her would have united both family stakes.”
A breeding contract dressed as romance.
“You planned my life.”
“We protected it.”
“No.”
“You bought it.”
A door slammed somewhere upstairs.
Ellis whispered, “Keep him talking.”
Nathan said, “If Lily is my heir, Victoria loses what?”
Conrad’s silence told him he had found the nerve.
“What does she lose?”
Conrad replied, “Control.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
“Enough to attack a four-year-old?”
The speakers went quiet.
Then Grace screamed somewhere in the building.
Ellis shouted after him.
He reached the second floor and kicked open a suite.
Another speaker sat on a table.
A phone beside it displayed a live video.
Grace was tied to a chair.
Her shoulder bandaged badly.
A hooded man stood behind her.
Conrad spoke through the phone.
“Burn the trust copy.”
Nathan said, “No.”
The hooded man placed a knife near Grace’s neck.
“Don’t!”
Conrad said, “Your father understood sacrifice.”
Then Grace shouted, “Nathan, ask about the sealed envelope!”
Grace’s eyes widened.
“That’s what they’re afraid of!”
“What envelope?”
Nathan whispered, “I have no idea.”
His phone rang immediately.
His attorney, Jonathan Hale.
“Nathan,” Hale said. “I need to see you.”
“Why?”
May you like
“I found something in your father’s safe.”
“He left it for Lily.”
