Chapter 3 - THE SECOND WILL
The missing envelope was labeled:
H.M. PRIVATE CODICIL - DELIVER TO CLAIRE ONLY UPON REMARRIAGE.
Claire stared at the archive inventory.
"My father knew I might remarry."
Rachel nodded. "And Sloan knew this document existed."
A clerk remembered Sloan asking for it six weeks earlier. He was denied access without Claire present.
Two days later, Adrian suddenly moved the wedding up by three months.
Lily, coloring beside a child advocate, looked up.
"Grandpa had a blue box."
Claire turned. "What blue box?"
"In his old desk. He said if grown-ups got weird about money, it was for you."
Police escorted them to the old Mercer estate.
In Henry's study, Lily crawled under the desk and found a hidden brass lever. A false panel opened.
Inside sat a blue steel box.
"Grandpa said the number was my birthday."
0417 opened it.
The box contained letters, a flash drive, and a copy of the missing codicil.
Rachel read it first.
"If Claire remarries, Henry's personal twenty-percent founder block moves directly into Lily's protected trust."
Adrian could never control it through marriage.
But if Claire were declared legally incapacitated within thirty days of remarriage, a temporary trustee would be appointed by Henry's named protector.
James Porter.
The same guest who had pointed out Adrian's key.
Claire opened Henry's letter.
Claire,
If Robert Sloan tells you there is no codicil, do not trust Robert Sloan.
Her hands shook.
The next line was worse.
If Adrian Vance is standing beside you when you read this, understand that I knew his father before you did.
Adrian's father, Charles Vance, had died fifteen years earlier.
Henry ended with one warning.
Charles tried to steal Mercer once.
His son may try again.
Rachel looked at Claire.
"Your father wasn't afraid of marriage."
"No."
May you like
Claire stared at Adrian's name.
"He was afraid of a Vance marrying me."
