Chapter 21 - A Mysterious Final Knock At The Penthouse Door
Midnight arrived with a howling blizzard that blanketed downtown Chicago in feet of fresh white snow.
Claire sat alone in her penthouse study overlooking the glittering lights of Lake Michigan, holding a cup of warm tea.
The financial restructuring was complete; the Harrington empire had been dismantled and absorbed into the Whitmore portfolio.
Suddenly, a soft, deliberate knock echoed against the heavy mahogany door of her private residential foyer.
Claire frowned, checking her security monitor; the private elevator showed a single visitor standing outside in the corridor.
She walked across the hardwood floor, unlocking the deadbolt and pulling the door open into the dimly lit hallway.
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There stood Ethan, soaked in freezing snow, shivering violently in his ruined suit without a coat or umbrella.
Before he could speak a single word, a mysterious envelope slid out from beneath the elevator door behind him, stamped with a wax seal bearing a family crest Claire had not seen in over twenty years.
