Chapter 2 - The Dead Man’s Voice
Edwin answered the call with one hand still gripping the phone.
“Who is this?”
A man breathed on the other end.
Then a low, familiar voice spoke.
“Still mistreating women when no one stronger is watching?”
Edwin’s face emptied.
Beverly lowered her wine glass.
Annika stopped smiling.
I stood beneath the mansion awning while rain blew against my back.
The voice continued through the speaker.
“You always were a disappointment.”
Edwin stumbled toward the console table.
“My father is dead.”
“So you were told.”
“You’re not him.”
“Check the scar on your left shoulder.”
Edwin froze.
No one outside the family knew how Robert Stanford had burned Edwin with a cigar when he was fourteen.
Not even I knew.
Beverly moved closer.
“Robert?”
The caller ignored her.
“Your accounts are already frozen.”
Edwin looked toward me.
“What did you do?”
I did not answer.
The voice on the phone continued.
“The mansion title has been challenged. Stanford Holdings is under emergency review. Your board has been notified that you concealed material liabilities.”
Edwin laughed, but fear hollowed the sound.
“You don’t have authority.”
“I created the authority you’ve been pretending belongs to you.”
Beverly whispered, “This isn’t possible.”
The call ended.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then Edwin grabbed my arm.
“You planned this.”
I looked down at his fingers.
“Take your hand off me.”
He tightened his grip.
The Caucasian Shepherd growled.
Not at me.
At him.
Edwin turned slowly toward the dog.
“Brutus.”
The dog stepped between us.
Edwin released me.
I had fed Brutus every morning.
Walked him when Edwin forgot.
Sat beside him during storms.
For years, Edwin believed fear made animals loyal.
He never understood kindness did.
His phone rang again.
This time it was his chief financial officer.
He answered.
“What?”
A frantic voice spilled through the speaker.
“Every Stanford corporate account has been locked pending investigation.”
“By whom?”
“The founding trust.”
“That trust was dissolved.”
“No, sir. It was dormant.”
Edwin looked at me.
I could see him rebuilding the past.
My father’s objections to our marriage.
The private number.
The prenuptial amendments he forced me to sign.
Every detail he dismissed because he thought my father was an old man with no power.
“What did your father do?” he asked.
I pulled my arm away.
“He gave you three years to prove who you were.”
Annika laughed nervously.
“That makes no sense.”
“It will.”
I turned toward the driveway.
My car was gone.
Edwin had ordered the staff to move it after dinner.
He wanted me trapped.
A pair of headlights appeared through the storm.
A black sedan stopped beneath the stone arch.
The driver stepped out holding an umbrella.
He was tall, silver-haired, and dressed in a dark suit.
I recognized him from childhood.
Jonathan Hale.
My father’s attorney.
He had vanished after my wedding.
Edwin stared at him.
“You.”
Jonathan approached the mansion.
“Good evening, Mr. Stanford.”
“You were disbarred.”
“No. Your attorneys published that lie after I refused to hand over Claire’s family trust.”
Beverly’s eyes narrowed.
“What trust?”
Jonathan looked at me.
“The one Edwin has spent three years trying to access.”
I had known there was a trust.
I had not known its size.
My father refused to tell me.
He said knowing too soon would make me a target.
Jonathan held out the umbrella.
“We need to reach the hospital.”
My heart tightened.
“Is Dad alive?”
“For now.”
I stepped toward the car.
Edwin blocked my path.
“You are not leaving until you explain what’s happening.”
Jonathan opened a folder.
“You no longer have the authority to stop her.”
He handed Edwin a legal notice.
Emergency protective order.
Temporary suspension from Stanford Holdings.
Asset preservation injunction.
Edwin scanned the first page.
His jaw clenched.
“This is fraudulent.”
“It was signed by a federal judge forty minutes ago.”
“On what evidence?”
Jonathan’s eyes moved toward Annika.
“The video.”
Annika’s face drained of color.
“What video?”
“The one you recorded tonight.”
She looked at her phone.
The screen was blank.
Jonathan continued.
“Your cloud account automatically uploaded the footage before you deleted it.”
Annika’s lips parted.
Beverly stepped away from her.
Edwin crushed the document in his fist.
“You think one humiliating video can destroy me?”
“No,” Jonathan said.
“The video merely proved the final condition.”
“What condition?”
Jonathan looked directly at Edwin.
“The condition your father placed in the Stanford Legacy Trust before his disappearance.”
Edwin’s face went still.
“What condition?”
“If you ever used violence, coercion, or public humiliation against your wife, controlling ownership of Stanford Holdings would transfer immediately.”
“Transfer to whom?”
Jonathan turned toward me.
May you like
“To Claire.”
📖 Claire had just become the controlling owner of Edwin’s empire, but the hospital call waiting on Jonathan’s phone threatened to make the victory arrive too late. 👇
