Chapter 36 - The Original Contract
The original contract revealed everything.
Claire's birth had been connected to a financial agreement.
Walter had borrowed millions from the Hayes network.
When he couldn't repay the debt, he offered something else.
Control of the Ashford estate.
But the contract contained one condition.
The debt would be forgiven if Walter delivered the rightful heir.
Claire.
Margaret felt sick.
“He sold my daughter.”
Arthur nodded.
“But there was a second clause.”
Margaret read it.
If Claire survives, ownership transfers to her upon her eighteenth birthday.
Margaret stared.
“That's why they declared her dead.”
Claire's disappearance had never been about adoption.
It had been about property.
And now Claire was alive.
Which meant the old contract had become active again.
Margaret whispered:
“Who has the original?”
A voice answered from behind them.
“I do.”
May you like
They turned.
Linda stood in the doorway.
