Chapter 15 - The Zurich Codicil
Before Claire could scream, Marcus burst through the door, his service weapon drawn and lowered in a defensive posture. "Step away from the vanity. Now."
Margaret didn't flinch. She simply set the ivory comb down on the marble counter with a delicate *click*. "Still playing the loyal guard dog, Marcus? Your father died serving the Whitmores, and you’ll die doing the exact same thing."
"You're not Margaret," Vanessa said from the doorway, her voice trembling with horror. "I watched my mother die inside when I was five years old. She couldn't look at sunlight. She couldn't bear the sound of a raised voice. You... you manipulated us from the second we walked into that asylum."
"I *am* Margaret," the woman said coldly. "Margaret Whitmore-Vance. Charles’s first wife. The one who signed the incorporation papers of Whitmore Global before Charles decided he preferred a compliant, frightened replacement."
She reached inside her robe and tossed a folded parchment onto the floor between them.
Marcus picked it up with one hand, his eyes scanning the German legal seals at the top. His jaw tightened until the tendons stood out like corded steel. "It’s a secondary trust deed. Filed in Zurich twenty-four years ago."
"Read the clause, Marcus," Margaret commanded softly.
"'In the event of the patriarch’s death,'" Marcus read, his voice cracking slightly, "'the entire estate, including all real property, corporate holdings, and charitable foundations, shall default entirely to the surviving twin born on October 14th—provided the secondary subject remains contained within facility parameters.'"
Claire stared at the document. "Twin? There were two of us?"
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"You and Eleanor," the woman whispered, a cruel smile touching her lips. "Charles couldn't bear to divide the empire. So he kept one as a trophy... and buried the other in the dark. And tonight, Eleanor has come to collect her half."
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