Chapter 10 - The Company Eleanor Never Owned
Whitmore Holdings had always appeared to belong to Eleanor.
Her name stood on annual reports. She chaired the board, approved acquisitions, hired executives, and represented the company at shareholder meetings.
But ownership and control were not the same thing.
E.W. Continuity Holdings had possessed a dormant controlling option for eleven years. The option could activate if someone attempted an unauthorized incapacity transfer.
David’s plan had awakened it.
The option now held fifty-one percent of Whitmore voting rights.
“Who owns Continuity Holdings?” Eleanor asked.
Simon searched the registry.
“The beneficial owner is sealed through a jurisdiction in South Dakota.”
“Unseal it.”
“The warrant does not cover that entity.”
The prosecutor requested an emergency extension.
The judge granted it within an hour.
The ownership file contained a single trust instrument and a handwritten instruction.
THE DAUGHTER MUST WIN WITHOUT THE FATHER.
No beneficiary was named.
No trustee was listed.
The protector’s signature had been removed.
Eleanor reread the sentence.
“What does it mean?” Noah asked.
“It sounds like one of Edmund’s tests,” Adrienne said.
“My father tested executives,” Eleanor replied. “He did not test his child with criminal conspiracies.”
Harold appeared at the boardroom doors shortly after noon.
His coat was torn, and dried blood marked one side of his face, though his injuries were not severe. He carried a green leather ledger against his chest.
Teresa turned away when she saw it.
David whispered something Eleanor could not hear.
Harold placed the ledger on the table.
“I was taken from my apartment last night,” he said. “They wanted this.”
“Who?” the prosecutor asked.
“I never saw their faces.”
“Where were you held?”
“In a vehicle. They released me after the cards were frozen.”
Eleanor approached him.
“You had the ledger all along.”
“Yes.”
“You told us Edmund had it.”
“He did.”
Harold opened the cover.
Inside, a note had been written in Edmund’s hand.
HAROLD, IF I DO NOT RETURN, KEEP THIS UNTIL ELEANOR DISCOVERS THE SEVENTH CARD.
Eleanor touched the page.
She recognized every curve of her father’s handwriting.
“You received this after the yacht sank?”
“A courier delivered it.”
“Who was the courier?”
Harold looked toward Adrienne.
“Lydia Voss.”
The green ledger contained hundreds of names arranged by occupation and family assignment.
Doctors.
Spouses.
Attorneys.
Accountants.
Household managers.
Trust officers.
Judges.
Several names had been crossed out. Others were marked with symbols Eleanor did not understand.
David’s name appeared on page 214.
VANITY. FINANCIAL RESENTMENT. USEFUL THROUGH MARRIAGE.
Vanessa’s name appeared beneath his.
ACCESS THROUGH FRIENDSHIP. SEEKS STATUS AND ESCAPE.
Dr. Sloane had been assigned to four families before Eleanor’s.
Teresa’s name appeared much earlier.
Eleanor felt the room tilt.
Her mother’s entry was dated twenty-four years ago.
TERESA WARD. PLACEMENT INCOMPLETE. EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT TO TARGET MAY COMPROMISE OPERATION.
Target: Edmund Whitmore.
Eleanor looked at Teresa.
“You were assigned to my father.”
Teresa said nothing.
“You did not meet him by accident.”
Still nothing.
Harold closed his eyes.
David watched Teresa with new interest.
The prosecutor stepped forward.
“Mrs. Bell, you should speak with counsel.”
Teresa’s composure finally fractured.
“You think Edmund was innocent?” she asked Eleanor. “You think he built all this to protect you?”
“What did he build?”
“A cage.”
“For whom?”
“For every person who learned what he really was.”
Teresa pointed toward the ledger.
“Those names are not only infiltrators. Some were investigators. Some were witnesses. Some were families he sacrificed to protect Whitmore Holdings.”
Adrienne shook her head.
“Edmund was exposing the network.”
“Edmund was the network.”
Harold struck the table with his palm.
“Stop.”
Teresa turned on him.
“You have protected him long enough.”
Eleanor looked between them.
“Is my father alive?”
No one answered.
She asked again.
“Is Edmund Whitmore alive?”
Harold’s silence was different from Teresa’s.
Teresa wanted to hurt her.
Harold was afraid the truth would.
Before either could speak, every screen in the boardroom switched on.
The silver-haired face of Lydia Voss appeared.
“This meeting is compromised,” she said. “David Hale was never expected to succeed. He was sent to force activation of Continuity Holdings.”
David stood.
“That is not true.”
Lydia ignored him.
“Eleanor, leave the building now.”
“Where is my father?”
“There is no time.”
“Answer me.”
Lydia looked directly through the camera.
“Edmund Whitmore is the reason you have never been safe.”
May you like
The feed ended.
Then the tower’s emergency alarms began to sound.
