The Will Beneath the Chapel
Chapter 04 - The Will Beneath the Chapel
Rose was transferred to a secure hospital while Lena searched for Victor. Martin remembered a clause in the original trust: Rose’s child could inherit only if her identity was confirmed by the family register stored beneath the private chapel at the old estate.
Victor knew that destroying the register would leave Claire with evidence of abuse, but no uncontested claim to the company.
They raced back through the storm.
When they reached the chapel, the doors were open. Victor stood near the altar with a metal box and a can of fuel. The missing security guard was beside him.
Nathaniel stepped forward. “Dad, put it down.”
Victor laughed. “You think Claire will share power with you? The moment she signs that register, you become a guest in the company carrying your name.”
Nathaniel looked at Claire. “Then I will be a guest.”
Victor’s face twisted. For years, he had taught his son that love was weakness and ownership was safety. Nathaniel’s answer destroyed the last control he believed he had.
The guard poured fuel across the floor, but Evelyn entered holding both jade halves.
“My father created that trust because he knew what you were becoming,” she said. “Rose did not abandon us. You stole her life.”
Victor ordered the guard to light a match.
The man hesitated.
Claire recognized him from a photograph in Rose’s hidden study. He was Daniel Price, the young orderly who had helped Rose escape the clinic decades earlier. Victor had blackmailed him ever since.
Daniel dropped the match and turned toward Lena’s approaching officers.
“I will testify,” he said.
Victor grabbed the metal box and ran through a passage beneath the altar. Nathaniel followed him into the underground archive. During the struggle, the box opened, scattering papers across the floor.
Among them were the family register, Rose’s birth records, and a notarized statement naming Claire as her daughter.
Victor reached for a burning lantern, but Nathaniel stopped him before the papers caught fire. Officers entered moments later and placed Victor under arrest.
At the hospital, Rose slowly regained strength. She remembered Claire’s birth, Daniel’s rescue attempt, and the lullaby she sang while sewing the jade charm into her baby’s blanket.
The court recognized Claire as Rose’s daughter. Yet when Evelyn offered her the controlling shares, Claire hesitated.
“I found my mother,” she said. “I do not want to lose myself inside another inheritance.”
May you like
Nathaniel took her hand.
“What life would you choose if the money were not deciding for you?”
