Chapter 10 - The Attorney’s Secret.
.Rebecca Sloan did not deny being removed from Jonathan Vale’s hospital room.
She simply closed her laptop and asked Charlotte to come upstairs before they discussed it.
The restraint in her voice frightened Charlotte more than anger would have.
They met in the owner’s suite with the curtains drawn against the afternoon rain.
Daniel waited outside by Charlotte’s request.
Harold had gone home under security escort with the original blue ledger.
For the first time since arriving, Charlotte was alone with the lawyer who had known her family for nearly twenty years.
“Vivian says my father threw you out of his hospital room.”
Rebecca nodded.
“He did.”
“Why?”
“Because I told him he was being reckless.”
Charlotte sat across from her.
“With the trust amendment?”
“With you.”
Charlotte stiffened.
Rebecca continued before she could interrupt.
“Jonathan wanted to transfer full voting control to you immediately.”
“He should have.”
“You were twenty-two, in graduate school, and barely sleeping while he was dying.”
“That was not your decision.”
“I know.”
The answer came quietly.
Charlotte looked away.
“What happened?”
“I drafted the founder-protection amendment, exactly as I told you.”
Rebecca opened a paper file.
“But Jonathan changed one provision by hand.”
She showed Charlotte a photocopy.
The handwritten clause appointed a temporary co-trustee if Jonathan died before Charlotte formally assumed the chairmanship.
Charlotte read the name.
ELIZABETH VALE MERCER.
Her aunt.
Charlotte had not seen Elizabeth in almost three years.
“She is a trustee?”
“Temporarily.”
“For how long?”
“Until you sign the succession acceptance in person.”
Charlotte stared at Rebecca.
“Why did no one tell me?”
“I tried.”
Rebecca’s voice broke for the first time.
“Owen’s committee claimed you were medically unavailable after the funeral and that all communications should go through family counsel.”
“I was grieving, not unconscious.”
“I know.”
“Did you believe them?”
“For two weeks.”
Charlotte stood.
“And after two weeks?”
“I realized your messages were being screened.”
Rebecca handed over a stack of printed emails.
Dozens of messages she had sent to Charlotte had been redirected to an administrative account Charlotte had never seen.
Someone had isolated her from the company while allowing everyone inside the company to believe she had chosen isolation.
Charlotte felt sick.
“Who controls that account?”
Rebecca pointed to the authorization line.
The administrator was Elizabeth Vale Mercer.
Charlotte walked toward the window.
Her aunt had attended the funeral, held Charlotte’s hands, and told her not to worry about the hotel until she was ready.
The memory now felt contaminated.
“Where is she?”
Rebecca looked at her watch.
“According to the board calendar, she is landing in forty minutes.”
Charlotte turned.
“Why?”
Rebecca opened a fresh message that had just reached her phone.
Elizabeth had called a private trustee session for six o’clock.
Attached was a proposed resolution.
It would declare Charlotte temporarily unfit to exercise controlling authority over the Vale trust.
At the bottom of the document were two signature lines.
One for Elizabeth.
May you like
The other was already signed.
Owen Hale.
