The Bride’s Second Story
Chapter 05 - The Bride’s Second Story
Vivian changed her defense after Miles Carter woke.
She no longer claimed Clara staged the kidnapping.
Instead, she said Helena arranged a temporary confinement to protect the wedding from Clara’s “violent breakdown.” Vivian admitted visiting the laundry facility but insisted she believed it was a private recovery center.
Her attorneys released childhood photographs of the sisters.
Vivian and Clara riding horses.
Vivian asleep against Clara’s shoulder.
Clara helping her cut a birthday cake.
The images invited the public to believe attempted murder could not exist beside years of affection.
Clara refused television interviews.
Through attorney Naomi Price, she released one statement:
A loving memory is not evidence that later harm did not occur.
Vivian’s legal team then attacked the codicil.
They claimed Arthur lacked capacity when he changed the will. Dr. Samuel Pike, the same physician who signed Arthur’s death certificate, produced notes describing confusion and cardiac decline.
Detective Ortiz discovered Pike received payments from Helena’s foundation.
The medical box Helena carried from Ashbourne Hall likely contained Arthur’s original records.
Without those records, proving poisoning or coercion would be difficult.
Julian’s brother Ethan traced Helena’s private aircraft to a small airport in Quebec. Canadian authorities found the plane, but Helena had continued by car using another woman’s passport.
The passport belonged to Rosa Bell’s daughter, who died twenty years earlier.
Rosa was horrified.
Helena had stolen the document from the estate archive and renewed it through Malcolm Gray’s contacts.
The search crossed borders.
At Whitmore House headquarters, the board refused to recognize Clara’s controlling shares until the will dispute ended. Vivian remained temporarily suspended, but Helena’s allies continued moving money.
Clara attended the emergency board meeting in person.
The cuts along her face had begun healing. She wore no makeup to hide them and no dramatic clothing to display them. The beige coat from the ballroom remained in evidence.
Several directors avoided her eyes.
Chairman Robert Dane said the company needed stability, not family accusations.
Clara placed Arthur’s video and the original trust on the table.
“Stability for whom?”
Dane warned that challenging old ownership could frighten lenders and cost thousands of jobs.
Clara had prepared for that argument.
She proposed freezing executive bonuses, protecting payroll, appointing an independent auditor, and stopping all related-party transfers. Employees would continue working while leadership faced review.
The board rejected the proposal seven to five.
Then Rosa entered with Margaret’s original partnership ledger.
It showed three directors had received shares through trusts funded by Helena.
Their votes were legally conflicted.
Naomi petitioned the court that afternoon.
A judge suspended the three directors and recognized Clara as interim trust representative.
The board voted again.
This time, the audit passed.
Vivian watched the meeting from a detention television.
She had spent years believing Clara’s gentleness meant she would never enter a room prepared to fight.
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The blindfold had not changed Clara into someone else.
It had ended her willingness to protect everyone from the consequences of what they chose.
