His older brother, Charles, had handled much of the legal side.
And according to Richard, Charles had betrayed both of them.
He had altered contracts.
Forged my mother’s signature.
Reassigned ownership.
Then forced her out of the business she had helped create.
My mother received almost nothing.
Halston Meridian went on to become worth billions.
Richard said he didn’t discover the full extent of the fraud until years later.
“I tried to find Eleanor,” he said. “She disappeared.”
“She raised me by herself.”
His eyes filled with tears again.
“Claire, your mother owned twenty-two percent of the original company.”
For a moment, I felt as though the chair beneath me had shifted.
“But that company doesn’t exist anymore.”
“The company doesn’t.”
He looked directly at me.
“The ownership claim does.”
Then he slid his phone across the table.
“And there’s something else you need to see.”
On the screen was an internal legal report.
It was dated six months earlier.
I read through the first page.
Then I saw the name attached to the recommendation.
Daniel Mercer.
