CHAPTER 6 – The Billion-Dollar Conspiracy
Chaos erupted inside the mansion.
Glass exploded across the marble floor.
Bodyguards exchanged fire with masked attackers while the Whitmore siblings escaped through a hidden passage Richard had built decades earlier.
Breathing heavily, they followed Eleanor into an underground tunnel beneath the estate.
After several minutes, they reached a heavy steel door.
Eleanor entered a six-digit code.
The door slowly opened.
Inside was a secret room no one knew existed.
Old newspapers.
Maps.
Photographs.
Boxes filled every shelf.
Across one wall hung dozens of pictures connected by red strings.
Every photo centered around one person.
Little Sophie.
Emily stared in disbelief.
"My God..."
"They've been searching for her all these years."
Eleanor nodded.
"It wasn't just kidnappers."
"It was someone inside Whitmore Holdings."
Daniel frowned.
"Someone in Dad's own company?"
James slowly placed another file on the table.
"This is the missing PROJECT HEIR file."
Daniel's eyes widened.
"I thought it was stolen."
"It was."
James replied calmly.
"But Richard made two copies."
He opened the file.
Inside were confidential documents exposing a criminal network that had operated inside Whitmore Holdings for over thirty years.
Executives.
Lawyers.
Politicians.
Even police officials.
They had laundered billions of dollars while secretly trying to seize control of Richard's empire.
Richard discovered everything.
But he couldn't expose them.
Because their leader was someone he trusted more than anyone else.
Michael whispered,
"Who?"
James slowly turned the final page.
A single photograph stared back at them.
The siblings froze.
Every drop of blood drained from Daniel's face.
"No..."
Emily began shaking uncontrollably.
Michael staggered backward into the wall.
The mastermind behind the conspiracy...
The person who had ordered Sophie's kidnapping...
The person responsible for the mansion fire...
The person who had manipulated the inheritance from the very beginning...
...was standing beside Richard in every family photograph for over thirty years.
It wasn't a stranger.
It wasn't a business rival.
It was...
Attorney James Holloway.
James quietly smiled.
Then he reached into his jacket...
May you like
...and pulled out a loaded pistol.
TO BE CONTINUED...
