Chapter 6 - Whispers in the Dark
That night, a storm battered the tall glass windows of Sterling Manor. Thunder rattled the frames as lightning illuminated the long corridors in harsh flashes of silver.
At 2:30 AM, Clara was walking down the service staircase after returning extra linen to the storage pantry. As she crossed the grand archway leading to the conservatory, she heard hushed, urgent voices echoing from the dark interior.
She pulled back into the shadows of a marble pillar, holding her breath.
Through the dim glass doors, she saw Daniel standing close to Vanessa. Vanessa held a glass of wine, her face illuminated by the ambient glow of the garden floodlights.
"Is the board vote locked for tomorrow?" Vanessa asked impatiently. "Martin promised me it would be done yesterday."
"It's locked," Daniel replied, his voice tense. "The institutional investors bought the medical incompetency story. Once Martin takes the interim CEO chair, he will approve the liquidation of Julian's technology patents to Vance Holdings."
"Good," Vanessa sneered. "I can't stand playing nursemaid to that pathetic cripple another day. What about the car's crash inspection?"
"The police report is closed," Daniel whispered, taking a step closer to her and grabbing her waist familiar, intimate authority. "The mechanics certified it as an accidental hydraulic failure. Nobody knows about the cut line."
Clara pressed her back against the cold marble wall, her heart hammering wildly against her ribs.
They tampered with his car.
It wasn't an accident. They tried to kill him.
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Vanessa pulled Daniel into a sharp kiss, then pushed him back with a wicked laugh. "Once Julian is stripped of his shares, his medical care will be transferred to a private facility in Oregon. He won't bother us ever again."
Clara backed away silently, step by step, her slippers making no sound on the carpeted runner, her mind racing with terror and realization. She had to tell Julian.
