Chapter 7 - Robert Comes Back For Charles's Empire
Robert Whitmore had always been Charles’s favorite.
Daniel was the son who challenged their father.
Robert was the son who learned from him.
After Charles died, Robert sold his company shares and moved overseas.
Publicly.
Investigators discovered he had maintained a second identity in the United States.
He had returned repeatedly.
Meridian House had been reactivated through one of his attorneys.
The small foundation transfers were tests.
Robert was checking whether Charles’s old financial channels still worked.
Margaret admitted she suspected Robert.
That was why she hired Victor.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Robert threatened Emily.”
Daniel stared at her.
Again, Margaret had chosen secrecy.
Again, she called it protection.
Robert had sent photographs of Emily’s apartment, workplace, and car.
Margaret believed surveillance would help her identify his people.
Instead, Robert apparently infiltrated Victor’s system.
The photograph labeled TARGET ARRIVED had been uploaded remotely.
The equipment case was not waiting to attack Emily.
It was supposed to catch the attacker.
But Robert had turned it into part of the trap.
Then investigators recovered a hidden camera angle from the study hallway.
At 4:36 P.M., a catering employee entered the corridor.
At 4:39, the same employee left wearing a different jacket.
Police enhanced the image.
Margaret gasped.
“That’s not catering staff.”
Daniel recognized the man too.
It was Robert.
His own brother had been inside the mansion.
Emily stared at the screen.
“He was behind me.”
The memory returned in pieces.
A voice saying:
“You should have left the dead alone.”
A hand.
The chemical cloth.
Then darkness.
Victor had found her moments later.
He had not attacked Emily.
He had interrupted Robert.
Daniel’s rage returned.
But this time it had a name.
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Robert had attacked his niece to keep Laura and Charles’s ledger hidden.
And he was still somewhere nearby.
