Chapter 9 - THE ATTORNEY WHO DISAPPEARED WITH PETER
Claire refused to believe Patricia betrayed her.
“I've known her ten years.”
I looked at her.
“That sentence seems dangerous in this story.”
She almost smiled.
Almost.
Patricia's phone was off.
Office empty.
Car still in the garage.
The charter company confirmed two passengers booked under aliases.
Federal agents moved toward the airfield.
Claire insisted on going.
I said no.
She looked at me.
I corrected myself.
“I'd prefer you didn't.”
“Better.”
Progress arrived at strange times.
We stayed in the command vehicle outside the field.
The plane sat dark.
No movement.
Agents approached.
Empty.
No Peter.
No Patricia.
The charter had been a decoy.
Then Claire's phone rang.
Patricia.
Claire answered on speaker.
“Where are you?”
“Safe.”
“Are you with Peter?”
“Yes.”
Claire's face went white.
I felt rage before understanding.
Patricia continued.
“Not willingly.”
Silence.
Peter had taken her from her parking garage twelve hours earlier.
He needed access to Robert's confidential legal files.
Patricia had kept copies outside the firm.
Peter wanted them destroyed.
“Where are you?”
“I can't say.”
A male voice sounded in the background.
Peter.
“Hello, little brother.”
My blood went cold.
“Let her go.”
“Bring Claire.”
“No.”
Claire looked at me.
Peter laughed.
“Still making decisions for her?”
I hated him for being right.
Claire spoke.
“What do you want?”
“The original codicil.”
“You know it's unsigned.”
“I don't care.”
Why would an unsigned draft matter?
Patricia whispered:
“There's another page.”
Peter shouted something.
The line cut.
Claire stared at her phone.
“What page?”
We called Patricia's assistant.
She knew nothing.
Then Claire remembered Robert's estate binder.
A sealed appendix.
Never opened because Robert instructed it remain private unless both sons were involved in litigation over the company.
That condition now existed.
We retrieved it under federal supervision.
Inside was a notarized declaration.
Signed.
Robert wrote that if evidence established Peter committed financial crimes or violence connected to Morgan Infrastructure, Peter forfeited his inheritance voting rights.
Control transferred to...
Me.
For thirty days.
Then independent board review.
Peter didn't want the money.
He wanted control.
Even temporarily, my authority could trigger forensic audits he couldn't stop.
Then Claire found a second clause.
If Daniel was found complicit or willfully blind in material misconduct, control skipped me.
To Claire.
Peter wanted the declaration destroyed because it gave Claire legal power to freeze the entire Morgan empire.
Suddenly the divorce mattered again.
As my wife, Peter could argue Claire's interests were merged with mine.
As my ex-wife?
Independent.
Cleaner.
Claire had legally separated herself so Robert's clause could function exactly as intended.
The divorce had truly been the first move.
Then my phone buzzed.
Video message.
Patricia tied to a chair.
Peter beside her.
He smiled into the camera.
“Bring Claire to the old Morgan steel plant.”
Then he added:
“And Daniel? Come too.”
“Why?”
May you like
His smile widened.
“Because there are some signatures I need from both of you.”
