Chapter 2 - The Name on the Seal.
For three seconds after the elevator doors closed, nobody in the lobby moved.
Then everyone moved at once.
Phones came out.
Guests whispered Charlotte's name.
A security guard began speaking urgently into his radio.
The pianist stopped playing in the middle of a measure.
Adrian Cole reached for Charlotte's arm and stopped himself before touching her.
"Miss Vale, we need to get you somewhere secure."
Charlotte studied him.
"Secure from whom?"
Adrian looked toward the private elevators.
"From anyone who realizes what that certificate means."
"Vivienne already realizes what it means."
"Vivienne is not the person I am worried about."
That answer disturbed Charlotte more than a lie would have.
She closed the folder and tucked it under her arm.
"Then start talking."
Adrian glanced at the guests.
"Not here."
"Eight months ago everyone decided things about my life in private rooms."
Charlotte nodded toward the watching crowd.
"I am done with private rooms."
A camera flash burst from somewhere near the bar.
Adrian flinched.
Charlotte did not.
"Tell them who I am."
Adrian's jaw tightened.
"You are Charlotte Vale, daughter of Eleanor Vale."
"And?"
He lowered his eyes.
"Controlling owner of Solmere Luxury Hotel Group."
The words spread through the lobby like electricity.
A senior concierge immediately removed the velvet rope from the executive corridor.
Two employees who had watched Vivienne shove Charlotte suddenly began asking whether she needed medical attention.
Charlotte almost laughed.
Power had healed their blindness in less than a minute.
"I asked for help when she first grabbed me," Charlotte said.
The concierge froze.
"No one heard me then."
No one answered.
Charlotte turned to Adrian.
"Suite 4201."
His face hardened.
"You cannot go there."
"I own it."
"That is not what I mean."
Adrian pulled a folded handkerchief from his pocket and offered it to her.
Charlotte ignored it.
"What happened in that suite?"
He looked toward the ceiling as if the answer might be listening.
"Your mother died there."
"I know where she died."
"You do not know everything that happened afterward."
Before Charlotte could respond, three men in dark suits entered through the revolving doors.
They moved with the synchronized confidence of people accustomed to being obeyed.
The man in front was Victor Dane.
Charlotte recognized him immediately.
Victor had been Eleanor Vale's chief legal counsel for fifteen years and chairman of the Solmere Trust for eight months.
He had also sent Charlotte a forty-seven-page document claiming she had voluntarily surrendered her inheritance.
Victor smiled when he saw her.
It was not surprise.
It was disappointment.
"Charlotte."
His voice was warm enough to fool strangers.
"Thank God you are alive."
Charlotte felt something cold settle in her stomach.
"You knew I was alive."
"We knew you were receiving treatment abroad."
"For what?"
Victor paused.
"Grief."
"Interesting."
Charlotte looked around the lobby.
"Because I spent the last five months in Boston hiring forensic accountants to find out why you stole my company."
The crowd reacted again.
Victor's smile became thinner.
"This is not the place for accusations."
"It became the place when your friend dragged me across the floor."
Victor looked at the bruise on her cheek.
"Who did this?"
Charlotte almost admired the performance.
"Vivienne Harrow."
Victor frowned with perfect concern.
"That is unacceptable."
"She also told me my mother had this certificate the night she died."
For the first time, Victor's expression failed him.
Only for a fraction of a second.
But Charlotte saw it.
He extended his hand.
"May I see the document?"
"No."
"Charlotte, if someone has given you a fraudulent certificate, you could be in serious legal danger."
"It came directly from the state archive."
"Then let my team authenticate it."
"Your team authenticated the forged transfer that erased my name."
Victor's eyes cooled.
Adrian stepped between them slightly.
"Mr. Dane, perhaps we should call an emergency board session."
Victor turned to him.
The look he gave Adrian contained no warmth at all.
"You should be careful what you suggest, Adrian."
Adrian's throat moved.
Charlotte noticed that too.
"What are you afraid he will say?"
Victor ignored the question.
Instead, he removed his phone.
"I am calling the police."
Charlotte smiled faintly.
"Good."
"You entered a restricted floor using falsified credentials."
"I entered my own hotel."
"Ownership is currently disputed."
"Not according to the state."
"According to a court order filed this morning, it is."
Charlotte's confidence faltered.
Victor turned his screen toward her.
A judicial seal appeared above a temporary injunction.
The order froze all ownership rights associated with Charlotte Vale until questions concerning her legal identity could be resolved.
Charlotte stared at the filing date.
It had been submitted at 8:14 that morning.
She had entered the Solmere at 8:32.
Someone had known she was coming.
"How did you know?"
Victor locked his phone.
"Know what?"
"That I would arrive today."
Victor said nothing.
Two uniformed police officers entered the lobby.
Vivienne reappeared at the far end of the mezzanine above them.
She had changed nothing about her appearance except her smile.
She was watching.
Victor nodded toward the officers.
"Charlotte, give me the folder."
She held it tighter.
"No."
One officer approached.
"Ma'am, we need you to place the document on the desk."
Charlotte looked at Adrian.
His face was full of warning.
She slowly set the leather folder on the marble counter.
The officer opened it.
His brow furrowed.
"There is no certificate in here."
Charlotte's blood went cold.
She grabbed the folder and looked inside.
The protective sleeve was empty.
The gold-sealed ownership certificate had vanished.
Victor did not smile.
That was worse.
Then Charlotte noticed something tucked beneath the empty sleeve.
A single hotel key card.
May you like
Across its white surface, someone had written three numbers in red ink.
4201.
