Chapter 6 - THE HOUSE THAT BELONGED TO THE STAFF.
Victoria called the deed an unfinished draft.
Sloan examined the seal and admitted it had been properly recorded by Ethan’s late father.
The employee trust should have received rental income whenever the Blackwood family used the domestic wing, service cottages, or kitchen facilities for private events.
No payments had ever been made.
The family owed the staff millions.
Mrs. Harper sat down for the first time in the Blackwood library without asking permission.
She had polished that room for three decades.
She had never been invited to use a chair.
Julian accused Claire of manipulating the employees against the family.
He said the Blackwoods provided housing, healthcare, and dignity to people who would otherwise have little.
Anna looked at him.
“My mother cleans your offices. That is not charity. It is work.”
The sentence exposed the belief beneath Julian’s anger.
The family considered every paycheck a favor and every employee’s loyalty a debt.
Ethan ordered Sloan to notify the pension trustees.
Victoria said the trustees answered to her.
Mrs. Harper produced her late husband’s trust certificate.
Under the deed, active and retired domestic employees selected their own representatives.
Victoria had been voting their shares without authority.
The staff could suspend her control immediately.
Before they could act, mansion security entered with a velvet jewelry box found inside Claire’s car.
It contained Victoria’s missing sapphire necklace.
Julian said Claire had planted the evidence against the family because she expected to inherit the mansion.
The accusation spread quickly through the gathered board members.
Despite everything exposed that morning, several still found it easier to imagine a carpenter’s daughter stealing jewelry than an old-money family stealing pensions.
Claire stood still while security searched her coat.
She refused to cry for their satisfaction.
Ranger sniffed the jewelry box, then followed the scent to Julian’s overcoat.
Inside his pocket was the matching velvet wrapping.
Julian claimed someone framed him.
Anna asked security to check the garage footage.
The video showed Victoria’s personal assistant placing the box inside Claire’s car at 5:43 a.m.
The assistant had already left the property.
Then Claire’s phone rang.
A woman said, “Do not let them blame the assistant.”
Claire recognized the voice from the recorder.
May you like
It was Nora.
“She was following Ethan’s orders.”
