Chapter 5 - CHARLOTTE’S FATHER HAD LEFT HER A LETTERThe trustees opened a sealed file triggered by Charlotte’s return to Chicago.
Inside was a letter from Michael Valle.
Her father.
Written six months before his death.
He had been thirty-eight.
Charlotte cried before reading the second paragraph.
Charlotte, if you ever choose to come into the company, do not let anyone tell you that inheriting shares makes you qualified to run it.
She laughed through tears.
That sounded like him.
Then:
But do not let anyone tell you that being young, private, or uninterested in society pages means you have no right to ask what is being done with assets held for you.
There.
Balance.
No princess mythology.
No secret chosen heir.
Just rights.
Responsibilities.
Then one paragraph mentioned Victor’s father.
I trust Robert Hale with operations. I am less certain he understands boundaries between stewardship and ownership.
Victor’s father had died eight years earlier.
Victor had inherited that ambiguity.
Maybe intensified it.
Then:
If Sebastian is still alive when you read this, ask him what he failed to tell your mother after the Westlake acquisition.
Charlotte looked up.
Sebastian went pale.
“What is Westlake?”
May you like
Her grandfather closed his eyes.
“Something I should have told you years ago.”
