Chapter 8 - The Ashford Hyenas
By midday, the news of the Whitmore coup had detonated across global financial media.
Headlines screamed across Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal:
*THE GHOST HEIR RISES: NATHANIEL WHITMORE ASSUMES CONTROL OF WHITMORE LOGISTICS.*
*CEO DANIEL WHITMORE EXPELLED; MARGARET WHITMORE ARRESTED FOR PATRICIDE.*
In the lavish Ashford estate on the outskirts of Boston, Claire’s family was in a state of absolute, chaotic hysteria.
Harold Ashford, Claire’s spineless uncle, and his vain, greedy wife Victoria had spent the last six months scheming to marry Claire off to Daniel to pay off their mountain of gambling debts. They had gladly accepted Daniel’s plan to substitute Nathan at the altar, laughing behind closed doors that Claire would spend the rest of her life wiping drool off a crippled shut-in while they cashed Daniel’s promised multi-million-dollar dowry check.
Now, that dowry check had bounced. And the "crippled shut-in" was suddenly the most powerful billionaire in the state.
"We have to go to the penthouse right now!" Victoria shrieked, frantically applying lipstick in the hallway mirror. "She’s your niece, Harold! We raised her after her parents died! She owes us everything! That girl wouldn't have even met the Whitmores if we hadn't set up the arrangement!"
"Will she even see us?" Harold whimpered, his hands shaking as he adjusted his tie. "You locked her in the basement storage room two days before the wedding because she refused to wear that cheap dress!"
"She's a soft-hearted little fool!" Victoria snapped, grabbing her fur coat. "We'll tell her it was all a misunderstanding! We'll say we knew Nathaniel was the true heir all along and that we helped arrange it to protect her from Daniel! If we play our cards right, Harold, we can get a five-million-dollar monthly stipend out of that boy!"
Thirty minutes later, Harold and Victoria arrived at the grand entrance of the Whitmore Penthouse atop the Beacon Hill Tower.
Two private security contractors, dressed in black suits and carrying tactical sidearms, barred the mahogany double doors.
"Step aside!" Victoria barked, puffing out her chest. "We are Claire's family! I am her legal guardian! Tell her Aunt Victoria and Uncle Harold are here to celebrate her glorious marriage!"
The door swung open smoothly.
Nathaniel Whitmore stepped into the threshold. He had removed his suit jacket, rolling up the sleeves of his crisp white shirt to reveal powerful, corded forearms. He held a crystal glass of scotch in one hand, looking down at the two pathetic grifters with cold disdain.
"Mr. Whitmore!" Harold gasped, immediately bowing and scraping. "Nathaniel! Our brilliant son-in-law! Oh, God bless you, son! We always knew you were a genius! We saw the greatness in you when you were just a boy!"
"Did you?" Nathan asked, taking a slow sip of his drink.
Victoria pushed forward with a sickening, honey-sweet smile. "Of course we did, darling! We saw how Daniel mistreated you. That's why we agreed to let you marry our precious Claire! We wanted her to be with a real man of character! And now that you're in charge, we know you'll want to take care of the family that brought you two together."
"Is that so?" Claire’s voice rang out from behind Nathan.
She stepped beside her husband, her arms crossed, her eyes freezing the smile right off Victoria’s face.
"Aunt Victoria," Claire said calmly. "Did you forget the text messages you sent me the night before the wedding? The ones where you told me that if I embarrassed Daniel, you would sell my late mother’s art studio to the highest bidder and leave me penniless?"
Victoria’s face paled. "Claire, sweetheart, that was just tough love! You know how stressful weddings are—"
"I bought the Ashford estate twenty minutes ago," Nathan interrupted, his voice smooth and deadly.
May you like
Harold gasped. "You... what?"
"Your private mortgage was held by Beacon Harbor Trust," Nathan continued, setting his scotch on a nearby console. "A subsidiary of Whitmore Capital. I foreclosed on the debt. You have until six o'clock this evening to remove your personal belongings from the property before the demolition crews arrive to level the house."
