Chapter 78
CHAPTER 78 — THE CHROME INHERITANCE
That evening, the air inside the compound turned thick and cold. The automated security lights along the perimeter fence suddenly flickered once—and settled into a steady, deep emerald green hue that matched the light from Charles Whitmore’s vault.
Claire rushed to the study window, her hand resting on her weapon, but Anna caught her wrist.
"Look at the main gate, Claire," Anna whispered, her voice trembling.
A massive, armored transport vehicle—completely unmarked, its body made of a polished, liquid-chrome metal that reflected the surrounding trees like a mirror—had pulled up to the security barrier. The French guards didn't raise their weapons; they stood at attention, their expressions completely blank as they cleared the gates.
The rear doors of the chrome transport slid open with a synchronized pneumatic hiss.
A woman stepped out into the emerald light. She was dressed in a pristine, tailored white suit, her posture flawless, her silver hair styled into an elegant chignon.
It was Eleanor Whitmore.
The mother Claire had watched swallow a lethal vial of poison in the boardroom weeks ago. The matriarch whose death had supposedly deadlocked the family trusts.
"Mother...?" Claire’s voice was a choked gasp as she backed away from the window, her mind fracturing under the weight of the endless deceptions. "No... we saw her collapse. We saw the body."
May you like
"The vial wasn't poison, Claire," Victoria Lane said from behind her, her voice dropping into a cold, terrifying realization as she checked the digital roster on her tablet.
"It was a synthetic suspended-animation serum designed by Aegis Life Sciences. Eleanor didn't commit suicide to save the family; she faked her death to remove herself from the federal surveillance grids so she could personally manage the final transfer of the assets to the New Renaissance Group. The matriarch never leaves the board, Claire. She just changes sides."
