Chapter 10 - THE ABDICATION CLAUSE
The Royal Charter of 1842 contained an emergency clause almost nobody had used in modern history.
Eleanor found it at 3:13 a.m.
“If the sovereign is unable to protect the continuity of state from credible internal conflict arising directly from disputed succession,” she read, “the Council of State may request temporary abdication.”
Claire sat in the hospital waiting room while Langford underwent surgery.
“What does that mean in English?”
“If your existence creates a constitutional crisis severe enough, Adrian could be pressured to step aside.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
“For Julian.”
“Possibly.”
“Or?” Claire asked.
Eleanor looked toward him.
“Or Claire.”
Claire stared.
“I’m seventeen.”
“A regent would govern.”
Princess Helena.
Everything clicked.
The leaked announcement.
The public controversy.
The council delegation.
The Legacy Gala.
If someone created violence publicly around Claire’s succession, the monarchy could enter constitutional emergency.
Adrian might be forced out.
Claire might technically become queen.
Helena would become regent.
Four years.
Billions.
Government influence.
Claire looked at her father.
“Cancel the gala.”
Adrian raised an eyebrow.
“Yesterday you refused.”
“Yesterday I thought they wanted to kill me.”
“And now?”
“Now I think they want to use me.”
Adrian sat beside her.
“That frightens you more?”
“Yes.”
He nodded.
“It should.”
But canceling proved impossible.
Blackwood’s board refused to officially cancel because the gala had already become an international event.
The Valedrian Council insisted the meeting proceed.
News networks had booked live coverage from outside the campus.
Parents threatened lawsuits if the school excluded students who had paid thousands for tables.
And Princess Helena issued a public statement declaring she would attend “to stand beside my beloved nephew and his newly discovered daughter during this historic family moment.”
Claire read it twice.
“She sounds nice.”
Evelyn grimaced.
“Dangerous people often do.”
Vanessa entered the hospital waiting room.
Everyone turned.
Behind her walked Richard Whitmore.
Two federal officers accompanied him.
Claire stood.
Adrian moved slightly in front of her.
Richard stopped.
“I came voluntarily.”
Claire looked at Vanessa.
“You’re okay?”
Vanessa nodded.
Richard looked terrible.
Unshaven.
Exhausted.
Nothing like the billionaire board chairman who had smiled during Claire’s humiliation.
“I need to speak to Adrian.”
Adrian did not move.
“You may speak here.”
Richard looked at Claire.
“What I have to say concerns her.”
“Then she stays.”
For once, Richard seemed to understand he had no authority.
He sat.
“In Madrid, I sold Evelyn’s location.”
Claire’s stomach tightened.
Vanessa looked down.
Richard continued.
“I was thirty-six. My company was collapsing. Victor Saran offered money.”
“How much?” Claire asked.
“Five million.”
“You sold my mother for five million dollars?”
Richard flinched.
“I didn’t know she was pregnant.”
Evelyn spoke from the doorway.
“Yes, you did.”
Richard turned.
“I suspected.”
“You saw me.”
Silence.
Evelyn stepped closer.
“You were in the hotel lobby.”
Richard lowered his eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
Evelyn’s voice stayed cold.
“No, you’re afraid.”
Richard accepted that.
“Yes.”
Claire watched Vanessa crying quietly beside him.
Richard continued.
“After the attack, Nicholas found me.”
Adrian stared.
“My father?”
“He gave me a choice. Prison in Valedria or work for him.”
“So you became an informant.”
“Yes.”
“For seventeen years?”
Richard nodded.
“I tracked threats around Claire.”
Claire laughed bitterly.
“You tracked me.”
“To protect you.”
“You asked your daughter where I went after school.”
“I needed information without alerting anyone.”
Vanessa looked at him.
“You used me.”
Richard closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Vanessa stood.
“Do you know what I did to her because of you?”
“Vanessa—”
“You compared me to her every day!”
“I was trying to keep you close.”
“Why?”
“So Claire would stay close.”
The room became silent.
Vanessa slapped him.
The sound echoed down the hallway.
A federal officer stepped forward.
Richard raised a hand.
“It’s fine.”
Vanessa’s face crumpled.
“You turned me into someone horrible.”
Richard looked devastated.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No. I gave you terrible examples. You still made choices.”
Claire looked at him.
That might have been the first honest thing Richard had ever said.
Vanessa cried harder.
Claire stood and pulled her into a hug.
Vanessa froze.
Then collapsed against her.
The girl who had dragged an empty chair beside Claire four nights earlier sobbed into her shoulder.
Life had become absurd.
After Vanessa left with Evelyn, Richard returned to the conspiracy.
“Nicholas suspected Helena.”
Adrian’s expression tightened.
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
“Because Helena had supporters throughout the palace.”
“Evidence?”
“Financial transfers.”
“To Victor?”
“Through intermediaries.”
“Do you have them?”
Richard shook his head.
“Stefan Vale does.”
Claire leaned forward.
“Why has Stefan been blackmailing you?”
“He wasn’t.”
Everyone stared.
Richard continued.
“I paid him to keep watching Claire after Nicholas died.”
Tomas looked stunned.
“You hired Stefan?”
“Yes.”
“Then why send the money through hidden accounts?”
“Because Helena monitored my finances.”
Claire stared.
“So the scary man leaving cryptic messages is on our side?”
Richard looked uncertain.
“He was.”
“Was?”
“Three weeks ago he contacted me.”
“What did he say?”
Richard looked at Claire.
“He said someone had reactivated the Madrid network.”
“Who?”
“He didn’t know.”
“And the gala?”
“He told me to stop it.”
Claire frowned.
“But he told us the killer would attend.”
Richard nodded.
“Because after I failed to cancel it, he decided the only option was exposure.”
Adrian stood.
“Where is he now?”
Richard looked toward the hospital windows.
“Probably watching us.”
Claire glanced instinctively outside.
At that moment, her phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
Of course.
She opened the message.
RICHARD FINALLY TOLD THE TRUTH. GOOD.
Claire showed everyone.
Another message arrived.
NOW ASK HIM WHY HELENA CHOSE BLACKWOOD.
Richard’s face changed.
Claire looked at him.
“Why did she choose Blackwood?”
Richard swallowed.
“She didn’t.”
“What?”
“I did.”
“Why?”
Richard looked deeply ashamed.
“Because my daughter went there.”
Vanessa.
Claire stared.
“You put me near Vanessa intentionally.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Richard’s voice cracked.
“Because I thought no one would attack you if doing so risked killing my own child too.”
Claire stopped breathing.
He had used Vanessa as a human shield without her knowledge.
Richard covered his face.
“I told myself I was protecting both of you.”
Claire whispered, “You were protecting yourself.”
“Yes.”
A third message arrived.
THE GAL A MUST CONTINUE.
Then:
HELENA WILL NOT CONFESS UNTIL SHE THINKS SHE HAS WON.
Claire looked at Adrian.
Adrian looked at Eleanor.
Eleanor slowly understood.
“We let her trigger the clause.”
Evelyn returned.
“What?”
Claire explained.
Her mother immediately objected.
But Claire had already decided.
“No more running.”
Adrian studied his daughter.
“What are you suggesting?”
Claire took the empty-chair place card from her purse.
She had removed it from the ballroom after the shooting.
“Vanessa tried to humiliate me because she thought I had nobody standing behind me.”
Claire placed it on the table.
“We make Helena think the same thing.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“We let her believe the council will reject me,” Claire continued.
Eleanor nodded slowly.
“And that Adrian will abdicate to prevent crisis.”
“Exactly.”
Tomas asked, “Then?”
Claire looked at Richard.
“You said Stefan has evidence.”
“Yes.”
“Find him.”
Richard almost laughed.
“He finds us.”
Claire’s phone buzzed again.
One final message.
GOOD PLAN, PRINCESS.
Claire stared.
Then she looked toward the hospital window.
Across the street, beneath a streetlamp, stood an elderly man in a gray coat.
May you like
Stefan Vale raised one hand.
And disappeared into the night.
