Chapter 58

Mrs. Whitmore reeled from the slap. Her carefully styled hair came loose, strands falling around her face.

“Ah!”

She covered her cheek and stared at her husband.

“You hit me too?!”

“You’re damn right I did!” Mr. Whitmore shouted. “You’re the reason she turned out like this!”

He pointed at his wife and daughter, his voice hoarse with anger.

“Your precious daughter talks about killing people like she’s discussing what to have for dinner. Does she even have the ability to clean up something like that? What gives her the nerve to think she can do whatever she wants?”

His finger shifted toward Charlotte.

“You. That’s what. You’ve spent years filling her head with that garbage about how the Whitmores don’t have to fear anyone in this city. Now she thinks our family can do whatever we want. She thinks I’ll always be there with money and connections to clean up every mess she makes!”

Charlotte sat frozen on the floor.

Mr. Whitmore gave a bitter laugh.

“She needs to take a good look at herself. In front of Richard Sterling, what the hell are the Whitmores?”

Mrs. Whitmore’s expression changed.

“If Sterling Consortium wanted to crush us, it wouldn’t even take much. Banks start calling in loans. Partners pull their investments. Financing dries up. Three months of that and this family is finished.”

He was almost shaking now.

“She wants to play with people’s lives? Fine. I’ll cut her off myself before I let her drag this entire family into the grave with her!”

Mrs. Whitmore stared at him.

She had been married to Mr. Whitmore for more than thirty years and had spent most of that time living as a wealthy socialite. People flattered her wherever she went.

Her husband was usually too busy with work to involve himself much in family matters. Even when the children caused trouble, he rarely did more than lecture them.

She had never seen him this furious.

A chill ran through her.

For the first time that night, she realized just how serious the situation might be.

Mr. Whitmore stood there breathing heavily. His gaze swept across the room before settling coldly on his wife and daughter.

He called sharply toward the entrance.

His assistant immediately came through the door.

The man kept his eyes firmly on the floor, making no attempt to look at either woman.

“Yes, sir?”

“Call the legal team. I want them at the office first thing tomorrow morning. We’re transferring assets.”

Charlotte stared at him.

“Dad! You can’t do that!”

Mr. Whitmore ignored her.

“The penthouse downtown. Her cars. The trust fund set up for her eighteenth birthday. And the minority stake in the company that was supposed to be transferred to her after graduation…”

His assistant listened silently.

“What?!”

Charlotte scrambled upright.

“Dad, are you insane?!”

Mr. Whitmore gave her a cold look.

“Transfer all of it to my eldest daughter.”

Mrs. Whitmore sucked in a breath.

His eldest daughter was from his first marriage.

After Mr. Whitmore remarried, Mrs. Whitmore had never liked her stepdaughter. Worried that the girl might one day compete with her own children for the family fortune, she had pushed for her to be sent overseas years ago.

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“Wait!” Mrs. Whitmore struggled to her feet. “You can’t give Charlotte’s things to her!”

Mr. Whitmore’s mouth twisted.

“I’m not only taking Charlotte’s assets.”

Mrs. Whitmore froze.

“Your five commercial properties downtown, your two vacation homes overseas, and the jewelry fund.”

He looked directly at her.

“Tomorrow, those go to my eldest daughter too.”

Mrs. Whitmore nearly fainted.

She had spent half her life securing her position in this family. She had given Mr. Whitmore three sons and a daughter, and for years she had simply assumed that everything the Whitmores owned would eventually belong to her children.

Never in her worst nightmares had she imagined that one stupid mistake by Charlotte would make her husband strip assets from both of them and hand everything to the stepdaughter she despised.

Charlotte’s face went white.

“Dad, please! Don’t!”

She hurried toward him.

“If you give all of that to my older sister, how am I supposed to face anyone? Everyone will laugh at me! Dad, I was wrong. I know I was wrong!”

“Get away from me!”

Mr. Whitmore kicked her aside.

Disgust filled his face.

“My eldest daughter has been in the UK for years. Do you have any idea how much overseas business she brings into the group every year? She’s done more for this family than all you spoiled idiots put together.”

He pointed at Charlotte.

“And forget about your social circle. You’re going overseas. Once the paperwork is finished, you’re leaving. Cause me any more trouble and you’ll regret it.”

The front door opened.

Two men walked into the house, both dressed in three-piece suits and still carrying the faint smell of cigarettes and alcohol from a business dinner.

Alexander and Sebastian Whitmore.

Charlotte’s two older brothers.

The moment they saw the state of the living room—and their mother and sister bruised and bleeding—their expressions changed.

“Dad, what happened?”

Alexander hurried forward.

“Whatever Charlotte did, wasn’t this a little too much?”

“Too much?”

Mr. Whitmore spun around. His eyes were bloodshot.

“You think I went too far? Then ask your wonderful sister what she did at the Sterling family’s vacation property a few days ago.”

Both brothers’ expressions changed at the mention of the Sterling family.

“You both know about the medical project we’ve been working on.”

Mr. Whitmore told them what had happened, his jaw clenched the entire time.

“Now it may all be gone. And there may never be another chance.”

The brothers went silent.

The project was central to Whitmore Group’s strategy for the year. A major contract from Sterling Consortium had been built into months of planning.

Alexander and Sebastian had spent months working with the project team, counting on the deal to send the company’s share price soaring and strengthen their positions on the board.

Now all of it might be gone.

“Fuck!”

Sebastian was the first to lose his temper.

“If we lose the Sterling Consortium contracts this year, we’re looking at nearly three billion dollars in lost business!”

And the direct losses were only part of the problem.

Being shut out by the Sterling family in this city could close doors far beyond a single contract.

Alexander slowly turned toward Charlotte.

The concern in his eyes disappeared. A moment ago, he had been worried about his sister.

Now he looked at her as if he barely recognized her.

“What the hell were you thinking?”

Mr. Whitmore straightened his rumpled suit and gave Charlotte one last look of disgust.

“You’re staying in this house for the next few days. No parties. No shopping. You don’t go anywhere.”

Charlotte stared at him.

“Once the paperwork is finished, you’re leaving the country.”

With that, he walked out.

Silence filled the living room.

Charlotte remained on the floor, breathing hard.

Her face still hurt badly, but that was nothing compared with the panic spreading through her now.

She couldn’t leave the house.

Her assets were being taken away.

Her cars too.

“No…”

Charlotte suddenly seemed to remember something.

She pushed herself up from the floor without even wiping the blood from her face.

In two days, there was a birthday party hosted by one of the most prominent families in their social circle. Almost every wealthy young woman they knew had been invited.

Victoria was on the guest list too.

Charlotte had been talking about the party in their group chat only a few days ago.

If she suddenly didn’t show up—

If anyone found out what had happened tonight—

She would become the biggest joke in their circle.

“No. No, I can’t…”

She turned desperately toward her family.

“Mom! Alexander! Sebastian!”

Charlotte grabbed the sleeve of her mother’s silk robe. Tears and blood streaked her face.

“Mom, please! Help me talk to Dad! I have to go to that birthday party. I can’t just not show up! And my cars—if Dad takes them away, what are people going to think?”

She tightened her grip.

“Mom, please. You love me the most. Just let me use one of yours, okay? I can’t let everyone see me like this!”

“Shut up!”

Mrs. Whitmore slapped her hand away.

“I’ve spoiled you too much. That’s the problem!”

Charlotte stared at her mother in shock.

“You still don’t understand what’s happening? You’re still thinking about some stupid party?”

Mrs. Whitmore glared at her.

“Your father is taking my property and handing it to that dead woman’s daughter!”

The thought alone made her furious.

She had always cared deeply about money and status. Knowing that assets she considered hers were about to be handed to the stepdaughter she hated was almost physically painful.

She shoved Charlotte away.

“How did I end up with a daughter as useless as you? You ruin everything you touch!”

She turned away.

“I can’t even stand looking at you right now.”

Mrs. Whitmore stormed upstairs.

Charlotte stared after her, then slowly looked toward her two brothers.

“Alexander… Sebastian…”

Her voice shook.

“Please help me. Just lend me a car. You both have plenty—”

“Lend you a car?”

Alexander looked at her coldly.

“So you can keep going around using the Whitmore name to cause trouble? So you can lose even more of the money that was supposed to come to the rest of us?”

Charlotte went silent.

“Because of you, Sebastian and I could lose millions in dividends from our shares. You haven’t even apologized once, and now you want us to lend you a car?”

Sebastian gave her a disgusted look.

“You’re about to lose your own shares and you’re still worried about a party?”

He shook his head.

“Do me a favor. When you’re outside, don’t tell people you’re my sister. It’s embarrassing.”

The brothers exchanged a look and walked away.

Charlotte sank back against the sofa.

Her phone vibrated on the coffee table.

She glanced at the screen.

Victoria Sterling was calling.

Charlotte shot to her feet.