Chapter 4 - Elena’s Last Secret
Daniel Mercer had served as Elena Hale’s personal attorney for twenty-two years.
He agreed to meet Clara in a quiet café near Union Station.
He was in his seventies, careful with every word, and visibly shaken when Clara placed the handwritten note on the table.
“I did not send this,” he said.
“But you know who did.”
“I have a suspicion.”
“Who?”
Daniel looked around before answering.
“Elena’s former assistant, Margaret Lin.”
Clara remembered Margaret as a quiet woman who had disappeared from the company shortly after Elena’s death.
Daniel folded his hands on the table.
“Before Elena died, she became concerned about Richard’s judgment. She believed he was moving company funds through false vendors.”
“Meridian?”
Daniel nodded.
“She began an internal investigation.”
“Did Richard know?”
“Not at first.”
Clara felt cold despite the warmth of the café.
“What happened?”
“Elena uncovered several suspicious contracts. Two weeks later, she suffered a stroke. There was no evidence that anyone caused her death, but her investigation files vanished from the company archive.”
Clara’s breath caught.
Daniel continued.
“She had already amended her trust. She left twelve percent of the company’s voting shares to you rather than Richard. She believed you were the only person in the family who would protect the company from him.”
Richard had always told Clara that Elena’s shares were simply a gesture of love.
They were not.
They were a safeguard.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“Elena instructed me to remain silent unless Richard attempted to obtain your shares or evidence emerged that he had continued the scheme.”
“He forged my signature.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“Then the condition has been met.”
He opened his briefcase and removed a sealed envelope.
Inside was a letter from Elena and a key to a private archive box in Alexandria.
Elena’s letter was short.
Clara, if you are reading this, Richard has chosen ambition over honor. Do not protect one man at the cost of innocent people. Protect the truth, the employees, and yourself.
The archive box contained Elena’s original investigation.
There were contracts, account maps, board minutes, and a recorded statement from Margaret Lin.
May you like
Richard’s crimes had not begun during his affair with Sabrina.
They had begun before Clara married him.
