Chapter 10 - THE SISTER WHO WANTED CLAIRE GONE
Susan Whitmore did not admit poisoning anyone.
She admitted helping Ryan build the governance strategy.
Their father had left Claire fifty-one percent voting control.
Ryan held no inherited shares.
Susan held twelve percent.
She had spent twenty years believing Claire’s majority made every family board discussion ceremonial.
When Ryan proposed Harbor Crown, Susan saw a chance to dilute Claire’s control through new financing.
She supported it.
Then Ryan asked what happened if Claire became temporarily unavailable.
Susan helped research.
“Did you know about the soup?” Naomi asked.
“No.”
“Did you move Claire’s prescription bottle?”
Susan looked down.
“Yes.”
Claire went cold.
“Why?”
“Ryan told me Claire had resumed the medication but was hiding it from the board.”
Susan believed he wanted documentation of Claire’s health instability.
She put the bottle in Claire’s travel case so it would be found if a medical issue occurred.
“That is still planting evidence,” Claire said.
Susan’s eyes filled.
“I know.”
“Did you know the bowl was altered?”
“No.”
“Did you invite Vanessa?”
Susan hesitated.
There.
Naomi leaned forward.
“Did you send the fake message?”
Susan nodded.
Claire stared.
“Why?”
“Ryan told me Vanessa being present would force the affair into the open and push Claire toward divorce after the deal.”
Susan thought family scandal would distract from the board fight.
She did not expect Vanessa to take the soup.
Ryan had warned Vanessa not to attend because he wanted control over timing.
Susan secretly invited her anyway because she wanted the confrontation.
That accidental interference almost killed Vanessa.
Ryan’s careful plan collided with Susan’s own manipulation.
Then Susan produced emails.
Ryan to Susan:
If Claire is hospitalized, do not panic. Forty-eight hours is enough.
Another:
We need continuity, not catastrophe.
That wording mattered.
Maybe Ryan intended incapacitation, not death.
Still criminal.
Still deliberate if proven.
Then one email stunned Claire.
Ryan:
The medical event has to look like something she already has.
Susan said:
“I thought he meant documenting her real condition.”
Claire stared.
No.
He meant the medication.
Then Susan added:
“There’s someone else.”
Company counsel.
Martin Hale.
The same lawyer who had answered Ryan’s questions about medical incapacity.
Susan whispered:
“He designed the forty-eight-hour path.”
May you like
Claire’s blood went cold.
Because Martin had also drafted her estate documents.
