Chapter 7 - THE HIDDEN SHARES
Victoria stood so quickly the chair scraped across the floor.
“That is confidential.”
Richard laughed.
“So was everything else.”
Liam looked between them.
“How many shares?”
Richard hesitated.
“Enough.”
“How many?”
“Eleven percent.”
Liam stared.
“That’s impossible.”
“No.”
Richard's voice was grim.
“Your grandfather created a silent trust after Daniel died.”
“Why?”
“Guilt.”
Victoria whispered.
Liam looked at her.
“My grandfather threatened Thomas into disappearing and then gave him part of the company?”
“Not exactly.”
Richard opened his phone.
“The shares were originally Daniel's.”
Liam froze.
“Dad left them to Thomas?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Richard looked at Victoria.
“Daniel changed his will three days before the accident.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
Avery suddenly understood.
“He knew.”
Richard nodded.
“Daniel knew Liam was Thomas's biological son.”
Liam sat down slowly.
Richard continued.
“Daniel was angry.”
“Devastated.”
“But according to his attorney, he didn't blame you.”
Liam looked up.
“Me?”
“No.”
“He considered you his son.”
Richard's voice softened.
“He wanted to make sure Thomas could protect you if anything happened to him.”
Victoria started crying.
Silently.
Avery had never seen it before.
Liam looked at his mother.
“You knew about the will?”
“After Daniel died.”
“And you hid that too.”
“Your grandfather did.”
“You let him.”
Victoria had no answer.
Richard placed a folder on the desk.
“There is something else.”
Liam almost laughed.
“Of course there is.”
Richard opened it.
“Daniel included a clause.”
“What clause?”
“If Thomas was ever prevented from having contact with you through coercion or financial pressure, his shares would eventually transfer.”
“To who?”
Richard looked at Leo.
Avery instinctively held her baby closer.
Liam followed his gaze.
“No.”
Richard nodded.
“To Daniel's first legally recognized grandson.”
Victoria whispered.
“Leo.”
Avery felt the room tilt.
Richard nodded again.
“When Leo was born, the clause activated.”
Liam stood.
“How much are those shares worth?”
Richard took a breath.
“At Friday's closing price?”
He looked at Avery.
“Approximately 4.8 billion dollars.”
Nobody spoke.
Avery looked down at Leo.
The baby slept peacefully.
Four weeks old.
And somehow already at the center of a war that began before his father was born.
Liam looked at Victoria.
“Is that why you tested him?”
Victoria's silence answered.
Avery's blood went cold.
“You weren't trying to prove I cheated.”
Victoria looked at her.
Avery stepped forward.
“You were trying to invalidate Leo's claim.”
Liam turned sharply.
“Mother?”
Victoria shook her head.
“I was protecting the company.”
“From my son?”
“From instability.”
“He is a baby.”
“He is a beneficiary of a controlling family trust.”
Avery laughed in disbelief.
“So that's what tonight was?”
Victoria looked at her.
“If Leo wasn't biologically connected to Liam—”
“But he is.”
“Not according to the first interpretation.”
Avery stared.
“The interpretation you paid for.”
Victoria's face hardened.
“You cannot prove that.”
Avery slowly smiled.
Victoria's expression changed.
Liam noticed.
“What?”
Avery reached into her bag again.
“I couldn't.”
She looked toward the door.
“But someone else can.”
The library doors opened.
A man in his late sixties stood there.
His right hand trembled slightly around a wooden cane.
His hair was gray.
His body was thinner than Liam had imagined.
But the eyes were unmistakable.
Liam stood perfectly still.
Thomas Hale looked at him.
Neither man spoke.
May you like
Then Thomas's eyes filled with tears.
“Hello, son.”
