THE MILLIONAIRE'S STOLEN EMPIRE AND THE WIFE'S FINAL MASTERPIECE

The rain had stopped by the time Eleanor returned to Chicago, leaving the city slick and gleaming under the streetlights. She sat in the back of a black town car, watching the skyline pass by.

Her phone buzzed in her purse. It was Miriam.

"The board meeting is set for 9:00 AM," Miriam's crisp voice came through the speaker. "William has been calling the office frantically. He knows Charles set him up, and he’s trying to rally the minority shareholders to block Charles’s takeover."

"Let him try," Eleanor said, staring out the window. "William is fighting a ghost. The real battle is already over."

"There is one complication, Eleanor," Miriam warned. "Brooke Sullivan is waiting in my office. She says she has something you need to see before tomorrow morning. She’s demanding immunity."

Eleanor sighed. "Keep her there. I'm ten minutes away."

When Eleanor walked into Miriam's downtown law office, the tension in the room was suffocating. Brooke was pacing furiously in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, looking exhausted and desperate. Her designer clothes were rumpled, and she jumped when the heavy mahogany doors clicked shut behind Eleanor.

Miriam sat behind her large desk, her hands folded in quiet judgment.

"Mrs. Harrington," Brooke started immediately, stepping forward with her hands raised in a placating gesture. "I know you hate me. I know I deserve it. But Charles Bennett is going to throw me to the wolves. He promised me Sterling Vanguard would protect me, but they froze my accounts an hour ago."

"There are consequences for corporate espionage, Brooke," Eleanor said calmly, taking a seat in a leather armchair. "Did you really think a man who would betray his business partner of thirty years would protect a hired mistress?"

Brooke swallowed hard, tears welling in her eyes. "I didn't know about the embezzlement. Or the blueprints. Thomas just told me William was a lonely, rich mark who needed a distraction. I was supposed to get him to sign over the shares and walk away rich."

Eleanor didn't offer any sympathy. "Miriam said you have something I need to see."

Brooke nodded frantically. She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a heavy, tarnished silver money clip. She placed it on Miriam's desk.

Eleanor recognized it instantly. It bore the Harrington family crest. It had belonged to William and Thomas’s father.

"Thomas dropped this in my apartment the night before the anniversary dinner," Brooke explained, her voice shaking. "He was drunk. He was bragging about how he and Charles had finally trapped William."

Eleanor looked at the money clip, then back at Brooke. "This proves Thomas was in Chicago. It doesn't help me."

"Look inside," Brooke urged.

Miriam reached forward and opened the silver clip. Tucked tightly inside was a folded, yellowed receipt from a public notary.

Miriam unfolded it, read it quickly, and handed it to Eleanor.

Eleanor read the text, her breath catching in her throat.

It was a notarized affidavit, signed by Thomas Harrington twelve years ago, confessing that William had paid him fifty thousand dollars to take the fall for the Southside embezzlement.

"Thomas kept the proof," Eleanor whispered.

"He’s been blackmailing William for twelve years," Brooke said, her voice dropping. "Every month, William sends Thomas ten thousand dollars from a hidden offshore account to keep him quiet. Charles found out about the payments six months ago. That’s how Charles forced Thomas to help him plant me."

Eleanor stared at the paper. This was the final nail in William’s coffin. With this affidavit, the embezzlement wasn't a rumor; it was a documented crime.

"Why are you giving this to me?" Eleanor asked, narrowing her eyes at the younger woman. "You could have sold this to Charles."

"Because Charles wants to destroy the company, and I just want to survive," Brooke cried. "If Charles takes over, he's going to frame me for the illegal share transfer to clear his own name. If you use this affidavit tomorrow, you can destroy William and Charles at the same time. Just... please. Tell the SEC I cooperated. Let me walk away."

Eleanor looked at the thirty-two-year-old woman who had mocked her in front of sixty people just forty-eight hours ago. She saw no malice left, only the pathetic desperation of someone who had gambled their life on a lie and lost everything.

Eleanor turned to Miriam. "Draft a cooperation agreement for Ms. Sullivan. If her testimony matches the documents, we won't pursue civil damages against her."

Brooke sagged in relief, sobbing into her hands.

Eleanor picked up the silver money clip and the affidavit, sliding them into her purse. She stood up to leave.

"Eleanor," Miriam called out softly. "Tomorrow morning is going to be brutal. Are you ready?"