Chapter 5 - the signature hidden in plain sight
Julian returned to Ashford House on Sunday night.
Mary Jane waited near the entrance hall, clutching another letter.
Victoria reached him first.
She kissed him, spoke about the success of the wedding arrangements, and immediately guided him into a meeting with Elias Mercer.
By the time Julian emerged, Mary Jane had been sent upstairs.
She slipped her second letter beneath his bedroom door.
The next morning, it was gone.
Julian said nothing.
At breakfast, Mary Jane finally asked him directly.
“Did you read what I wrote?”
Julian lowered his coffee.
“What did you write?”
Victoria looked across the table.
Mary Jane understood.
Neither letter had reached him.
“About Mrs. Dallow.”
Julian’s expression softened.
“Victoria told me she became ill.”
“She didn’t leave because she was ill.”
“Mary Jane,” Victoria said, “we discussed this.”
“No, you told me what to say.”
Julian looked at Victoria.
“What does that mean?”
“She is angry because I limited her access to the closed wings.”
“You searched my room,” Mary Jane said.
Victoria remained calm.
“Mrs. Dallow searched your room while trying to find stolen household keys.”
“That is not true.”
Julian rubbed his forehead.
The hotel negotiation had kept him awake for three nights. His father’s companies were unstable, the board was divided, and the wedding was approaching faster than he could control.
He looked at Mary Jane.
“I will speak to Mrs. Dallow myself.”
“She won’t answer.”
“I will find her.”
Victoria reached for his hand.
“You have a board call in ten minutes.”
Mary Jane pushed back her chair.
“You always have something else.”
The words struck harder than she intended.
Julian watched her leave.
Later that day, he tried calling Mrs. Dallow.
The number had been disconnected.
He asked Daniel to locate her.
Daniel searched personnel records and discovered that her emergency contact information had been changed two days earlier. The new address belonged to an empty warehouse.
He brought the finding to Julian.
Before Julian could act, Elias arrived with the final consolidation documents.
“These require preliminary initials,” Elias said. “The formal signature will take place at the gala.”
Julian opened the folder.
The first pages concerned Ashford Hotels, the Vale investment partnership, and a new charitable foundation. Farther inside, a section titled Dependent Residential Continuity listed Mary Jane’s name.
Julian stopped.
“What is this?”
Victoria answered from behind him.
“A protection clause.”
“It appoints you as temporary guardian.”
“Only if something happens to you.”
“Why is it included in a corporate agreement?”
Elias adjusted his glasses.
“Because Mary Jane’s residency is a condition of the estate. Any restructuring requires continuity provisions.”
Julian read the page more closely.
A paragraph referred to Schedule Twelve.
Schedule Twelve was missing.
“Where is the attachment?”
Elias searched the folder.
“An administrative error.”
Julian closed it.
“I sign nothing until I read every schedule.”
Victoria smiled.
“Of course.”
But that night, she entered Elias’s temporary office and locked the door.
“You said he would not notice.”
“He was always going to notice eventually.”
“Eventually was supposed to be after the gala.”
Elias opened a locked case.
Inside were two versions of the signature packet.
The first contained the documents Julian had read.
The second contained a page transferring residential guardianship of Mary Jane to Victoria and management control of the Ashford estate to a private entity identified only by its initials.
A.V. Holdings.
“We switch the packets after the public reading,” Elias said. “Julian signs the final page in front of witnesses. The signature will apply to the complete document filed with the court.”
Victoria looked toward the office door.
Neither of them noticed the small shadow beneath the desk.
Mary Jane had entered through the hidden passage.
May you like
Beside her lay an old voice recorder she had discovered inside Eleanor’s former archive cabinet.
She pressed the red button.
