Chapter 12 - The Woman in the Champagne Dress
Savannah immediately blamed Nathaniel.
“He controlled everything,” she told investigators.
“He promised me the company.”
Police searched her penthouse.
They found Isabella’s copied identification, trust correspondence and signature samples.
A laptop contained drafts of the false psychiatric reports.
There were also recordings Savannah had secretly made of Nathaniel.
She intended to use them if he ever left her.
In one recording, Nathaniel said:
Once Isabella signs, Whitmore loses the right to interfere.
Savannah asked:
And if she tells her father you hit her?
Nathaniel laughed.
The old man repairs engines. What can he do?
The recording became central evidence.
Savannah had known violence was possible.
She had helped Nathaniel create the conditions for it.
She also admitted she discovered Edward’s identity before Nathaniel did.
She encouraged Nathaniel’s resentment because she believed Isabella’s trust could fund their life together.
Nathaniel had promised Savannah ownership of the Bel Air mansion.
The mansion was never his to promise.
He had also promised her controlling shares in Cross Dominion.
The shares were pledged to Whitmore lenders.
Every reward he offered came from property belonging to someone else.
Savannah’s cooperation revealed another crime.
Nathaniel had created a private restructuring plan.
Cross Dominion’s profitable hotels would transfer into a new company controlled by him and Savannah.
The failing projects and debt would remain in the old company.
Whitmore Global and ordinary shareholders would absorb the losses.
Employees would lose retirement funds.
Nathaniel and Savannah would keep the valuable assets.
Isabella read the plan from her hospital bed.
Her shoulder was badly bruised.
Her wrist was sprained.
The belt had left long marks across her back and legs.
Edward sat beside her.
“You do not need to read more.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Why?”
“Because he said freezing the company would hurt employees. He intended to hurt them himself.”
Edward watched his daughter continue.
He recognized the determination.
It came from her mother.
The Whitmore team proposed immediate bankruptcy protection.
Isabella rejected it.
She wanted a controlled restructuring that preserved jobs and removed Nathaniel’s authority without destroying the company.
Edward asked, “You still want to save Cross Dominion?”
“I want to save the people who built it.”
“He does not deserve that.”
“They do.”
Nathaniel’s board met the next morning.
Most directors still believed he could explain everything.
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Then Isabella entered with visible bruises and the black folder.
👉 Nathaniel’s directors expected a frightened wife asking for sympathy, but Isabella arrived carrying enough voting power to remove every person who had protected him.
