Chapter 9 - UNCLE CHARLES
Charles invited me to lunch.
I almost refused.
Then I remembered something my mother used to say.
Never refuse information just because you dislike the person carrying it.
So I went.
Charles chose a private restaurant.
No lawyers.
No assistants.
Just us.
He poured water.
“I’m sorry about Damien.”
“Are you?”
“Yes.”
“You watched Eleanor control him his entire life.”
“Yes.”
“And said nothing.”
His expression did not change.
“I was a coward.”
I laughed.
“At least your family is consistent.”
He accepted the insult.
“Vanessa came to me.”
“Why?”
“She was afraid Eleanor would have her killed.”
I stared.
“Is she alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Safe.”
“Give me the address.”
“No.”
I leaned back.
“Then lunch is over.”
“Elena.”
I stood.
“She has evidence.”
I stopped.
“What evidence?”
“Your mother’s original file.”
My pulse changed.
“That was in Box 317.”
“Not all of it.”
Charles placed a photograph on the table.
My mother.
Richard Hargrave.
Charles.
Standing outside Bellrose Storage.
Taken one week before her death.
“I was there.”
I sat again.
Charles continued.
“Richard wanted to return the shares.”
“Eleanor refused.”
“Yes.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
“Another coward.”
“Yes.”
He did not defend himself.
That made him harder to hate.
“The file Vanessa has contains one page you never saw.”
“What page?”
“A partnership agreement.”
“Between whom?”
“Isabella Valenti and Richard Hargrave.”
I frowned.
“They were partners?”
“Secretly.”
“For what?”
Charles lowered his voice.
“A company that never launched.”
“Name?”
“Meridian Therapeutics.”
I stared.
My mother had trained as a chemist before joining family investments.
I knew that.
I did not know she had started another company.
“What happened to it?”
“Eleanor.”
Of course.
Charles continued.
“Meridian owned patents worth billions today.”
“Where are they?”
“Inside Hargrave Industries.”
My jaw tightened.
“Stolen too?”
“Absorbed.”
“Without compensation?”
“Yes.”
The shareholder theft was only half the story.
Hargrave Industries had been built not only on my family’s money—
But on my mother’s intellectual property.
“What does Vanessa want?”
“Immunity.”
“For theft?”
“And fraud.”
“What fraud?”
Charles hesitated.
“The necklace was not the first thing she planted.”
My chest tightened.
“What else?”
“Documents in your home.”
“What documents?”
“Financial records.”
A cold feeling spread through me.
“For what purpose?”
Charles looked directly at me.
“To make it appear that you stole money from Hargrave Industries.”
I stopped breathing.
“How much?”
“Seventy-four million dollars.”
That was enough to change everything.
If investigators found forged records connecting me to missing corporate funds—
The court could suspend my claims.
Freeze Valenti entities.
Possibly even expose me to criminal investigation.
“Where are the records?”
Charles looked at his watch.
“Probably being discovered right now.”
My phone rang.
Julian.
I answered.
His first sentence confirmed it.
“Elena, federal investigators are at your house.”
My blood went cold.
“They found documents.”
I looked at Charles.
He held my stare.
Julian continued.
“They show transfers from Hargrave Industries to a Valenti-controlled account.”
“How much?”
May you like
A pause.
“Seventy-four million.”
