Chapter 12 - The Vote Against Claire.
Claire felt the floor disappear beneath her.
"Guardianship of Evelyn?"
Serena read the screen again.
"She cannot possibly do that."
The officer beside them did not offer false reassurance.
"Anyone can file a petition."
"Winning is another matter."
Claire called the child advocate at the station immediately.
Evelyn was safe.
No one had attempted to remove her.
Still, Claire's hands shook as she opened the board livestream.
Eleanor sat at the head of a long walnut table inside Vale Tower.
Twelve directors surrounded her.
Julian sat two chairs away.
His expression was unreadable.
Eleanor spoke about Claire's public assault.
She called the slap evidence of instability.
She described Evelyn's accusations as coached behavior from a frightened child.
Claire wanted to smash the phone against the wall.
Instead, she called Martin Hale.
"Get me into that meeting."
Hale connected her through the board's legal conference system.
Eleanor stopped speaking when Claire's face appeared on the wall monitor.
"You are not a director," Eleanor said.
Claire held up the trust document from B-17.
"According to Dad, I own more of this company than half the people in that room."
Silence followed.
Several directors turned toward Eleanor.
Claire continued.
"The shares you told me were sold were never sold."
"You took control of them using a petition with my forged signature."
Eleanor did not blink.
"Your father was desperate and confused before his death."
"Then why did you hide his trust for seventeen years?"
A director named Paul Grayson asked to see the document.
Claire transmitted the scanned copy.
Eleanor's counsel objected that its authenticity had not been verified.
Then Claire played Noah's footage.
The room watched Julian grab Evelyn.
They watched him push her.
They watched the display collapse.
Julian lowered his head.
Eleanor remained motionless.
Then the low-light footage played.
Her voice filled the boardroom.
"Get the key before she leaves."
Paul Grayson stared at Eleanor.
"What key?"
Claire answered.
"The key to evidence my father left before he died."
Eleanor finally showed emotion.
Not fear.
Fury.
"Claire has no idea what she is doing."
Hale's voice entered the call.
"I believe she knows exactly what she is doing."
Eleanor turned toward the speaker.
"Martin."
Hale appeared on a second screen.
"I should have spoken seventeen years ago."
"I will not make that mistake twice."
He confirmed Thomas's trust documents.
He confirmed the forged petition.
He confirmed Julian had been in the car during the fatal crash.
The boardroom erupted.
Julian suddenly stood.
"Enough."
Everyone stopped.
He looked directly at the camera.
"Claire, do not play the third recording for them."
Claire's voice hardened.
"Why?"
"Because you do not know what came after it."
"Then tell me."
Julian looked toward Eleanor.
For the first time in Claire's memory, he seemed afraid of their mother.
Eleanor spoke before he could.
"Julian was traumatized."
"Anything he says about that morning is unreliable."
Julian slowly turned toward her.
Something in his face broke.
"You told me Dad was already dead."
Eleanor's eyes narrowed.
May you like
Julian continued.
"But I heard him breathing when you pulled me away."
