Chapter 12 - The Last SignatureThe estate was empty.
Chief had disappeared.
Security had been removed.
Maxwell and Clara entered through the side door.
They went directly to the hidden room.
The metal cabinets were still there.
Maxwell used the ring.
A hidden slot opened.
Inside was a wooden box.
He opened it.
Original trust documents.
Property deeds.
Share certificates.
Photographs.
And one envelope.
He opened it.
Inside was a letter from Samuel.
Maxwell read.
“My son,
When you read this, you will probably hate me.
You should.
I allowed you to believe that I didn't want you.
But I had no choice.
The people around me had already started moving against the family.
I knew Alexander had begun stealing from the company.
I also knew someone in the house was helping him.
I couldn't tell who.
So I made everyone believe you had been disowned.
I took your documents.
I emptied your accounts.
I sent you away.
Every humiliation you experienced was designed to make them believe you were no longer important.
I am sorry.
But I needed you alive.”
Maxwell stopped reading.
Clara watched him.
“What else?”
He continued.
“If I die, the trust will activate when the heirs prove fraud.
The company does not belong to me.
It never did.
It belongs to you and Clara.
There is one more truth.
Your grandmother created the trust after learning that Lucy was alive.
She gave birth to a daughter.
Clara.
Samuel raised her as his own.”
Clara covered her mouth.
Maxwell looked at her.
Samuel continued.
“Lucy disappeared because she was being hunted.
She entrusted her child to Samuel.
Your families are connected by blood, but not in the way the enemies believe.
Clara is not your sister.
She is not your cousin.
She is the daughter of Lucy.”
Clara began crying.
Maxwell held her hand.
The letter continued.
“Alexander wants the company.
But he cannot legally control it without the trust.
That is why he must eliminate both heirs.
Do not trust anyone.
Not even me.”
Maxwell stared at the last sentence.
Then he looked at the signature.
Samuel Onochie.
A second sheet fell from the envelope.
A photograph.
Lucy.
Samuel.
Clara as a baby.
And another man.
Maxwell stared at the man.
He recognized him.
The man who had first visited his workshop.
The one who had said his father would be proud.
Clara looked at the photograph.
“Who is he?”
Maxwell whispered:
“That's the man who brought my father's car to the workshop.”
Suddenly, footsteps sounded above them.
Someone was in the house.
Maxwell closed the box.
He grabbed the documents.
Clara looked toward the stairs.
“Who is that?”
The footsteps came closer.
Then the lights came on.
Chief stood there.
His clothes were soaked.
There was blood on his sleeve.
Maxwell stepped back.
“Where is my mother?”
Chief looked at him.
“She's alive.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
Maxwell raised his voice.
“You sent her to Alexander.”
“No.”
“You knew where he took her.”
Chief's face changed.
“He took her because of me.”
“What does that mean?”
Chief approached slowly.
“Because I have the final key.”
Maxwell stared.
“The final key?”
Chief nodded.
“Your mother only had the first.”
“Then what is the second?”
Chief lifted his hand.
He was wearing the family ring.
He removed it.
Inside the ring was another chip.
“This is not the second key.”
He looked at Maxwell.
“This is the cancellation key.”
Maxwell frowned.
“What does it cancel?”
“The trust.”
Clara froze.
“Then Alexander wants it.”
Chief nodded.
“If he gets it, everything disappears.”
Maxwell's phone rang.
Alexander.
He answered.
Alexander said:
“You have the documents.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“Where is my mother?”
“You'll find her at the headquarters.”
“What are you planning?”
Alexander laughed.
“I'm not planning anything.”
He paused.
“I've already done it.”
Maxwell's face tightened.
Alexander continued.
“In thirty minutes, the board will announce that Chief Onochie is medically unfit to continue.”
Maxwell stared.
He said nothing.
Alexander's voice became colder.
“And in one hour, the company will have a new chairman.”
The call ended.
Clara whispered:
“Your uncle is taking the company tonight.”
Maxwell looked at the documents.
Then at his father's ring.
Then toward the city.
“No.”
He picked up the trust papers.
“He's taking the company because he thinks nobody can stop him.”
May you like
He looked at Clara.
“Let's prove him wrong.”
