Chapter 2 – THE LAWYER AT THE DOOR
At exactly 9:00 the next morning, a black Mercedes stopped outside Whitmore Manor.
Samuel Brooks stepped onto the driveway carrying a leather briefcase.
Behind him stood the woman they had thrown out the previous evening.
Victoria opened the door.
Her face immediately hardened.
“You again?”
Samuel stepped forward.
“My name is Samuel Brooks. I represent Mrs. Eleanor Whitmore.”
Richard descended the marble staircase.
“Whitmore?” he repeated.
Samuel removed a certified document from his briefcase.
“This property, along with the controlling ownership of Whitmore Holdings, belongs to my client.”
Victoria laughed.
“That’s impossible.”
Samuel didn’t smile.
“Mrs. Whitmore is the original settlor and sole current beneficiary of the Eleanor Whitmore Family Trust. The trust retains legal title to this estate and a controlling interest in the company. Your family has been occupying and managing these assets under arrangements that do not convey ownership.”
Richard snatched the document.
His hands began trembling.
His mother’s name.
Her signature.
And the date.
Nearly three decades earlier.
“My mother died in 1999,” he whispered.
Samuel looked directly at him.
“No, Mr. Whitmore. You were told she died.”
Victoria stepped back.
For the first time, Eleanor noticed genuine fear in her daughter-in-law’s eyes.
Samuel produced another document.
“Following a recent review of the trust’s records, an independent court-supervised process has confirmed Mrs. Whitmore’s identity and the validity of her claim. I have brought the certified copies.”
Victoria shook her head.
“This is fraud!”
Eleanor finally spoke.
“Then explain why you told my son I died.”
Richard turned toward his wife.
“Victoria?”
She opened her mouth but said nothing.
Samuel placed one last photograph on the table.
It showed Eleanor lying unconscious in a hospital bed in 1999.
Standing beside her was a younger Victoria.
Richard stared.
“You told me you had never met my mother.”
Victoria’s face turned pale.
Samuel turned the photograph over, revealing Victoria’s signature on the record transferring Eleanor to a secret treatment facility.