Chapter 14 - The Hidden Clause
Garrett’s feigned weakness emboldened Evelyn exactly as we had hoped. Believing her son was once again slipping into a state of physical and mental decline, she began making bold moves regarding the family’s finances.
Late one night, while Evelyn and Florence were asleep in the East Wing, Garrett and I sat in his heavily secured office. We were reviewing the original founding documents Evelyn had given him to defeat Douglas. Garrett was searching for the reason Evelyn felt so confident in her ability to control him.
After hours of reading dense legalese, Garrett finally found it buried on page seventy-four. His face went completely pale, and he silently handed me the glowing tablet.
It was an obscure, archaic provision known as the Matriarch Clause. It stated that if the primary heir of the Corbin empire was deemed physically or mentally unfit, the living matriarch had the unilateral power to veto any marriage, dissolve any executive appointments, and redirect the family trust to a beneficiary of her choosing.
Evelyn didn't just want to control Garrett; she wanted the legal power to fire me, annul any potential marriage between us, and hand the empire over to someone she could easily manipulate.
I asked Garrett who she could possibly name as the new beneficiary with Douglas in prison. Garrett typed furiously on his keyboard, hacking into the private offshore accounts his mother used. The screen populated with a series of massive wire transfers, all directed to a single, newly formed holding company.
The CEO of that holding company was listed as Christopher, my ex-husband.
The pieces of the horrifying puzzle finally clicked together. Evelyn had secretly funded Christopher’s legal defense team and paid for his luxurious plea deal. In exchange, Christopher would act as Evelyn's puppet CEO once Garrett was declared incompetent. Florence was simply the messenger and the enforcer on the ground.
They weren't just trying to ruin my new life; they were trying to completely restore the miserable life I had barely escaped.
I felt a sudden wave of nausea, but Garrett grabbed my hand, anchoring me to reality. He looked at me with an intensity that burned away all my fear. He told me that the Matriarch Clause required the approval of the company's chief medical officer to prove incompetence.
Garrett smiled a terrifying, predatory smile. He reminded me that after Dr. Vance was arrested for attempted murder, Garrett had appointed a new chief medical officer to oversee his estate and his company.
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He had appointed me.
Evelyn’s entire master plan relied on a medical authorization that she needed my signature to execute. We had the ultimate leverage, and it was time to let them dig their own graves.
