Chapter 173: Tension in the Whitmore Family
That day, William Whitmore exited the company building utterly defeated. He didn’t even go to the underground parking lot where his car was parked. Absentmindedly, he walked all the way home.
By the time he arrived, his clothes were drenched in sweat, his hair dishevelled... he looked like he’d just walked through a disaster.
Jeanne, who was on the ground floor sipping tea, rushed towards him the moment she saw him.
"What happened to you?" she almost shouted in shock.
William didn’t answer. He simply walked past her towards the stairs. He nearly stumbled on the steps, and if Jeanne hadn’t been following close behind, he might have fallen. She caught him just in time. He went directly to his room.
As soon as he entered, he collapsed onto the floor. Tears began to fall silently down his cheeks. Jeanne had never seen him like this before. Alarmed, she immediately called Jennifer, who rushed in from her room... only to stop, stunned, at the sight before her.
No matter how much both women tried to comfort him or ask what had happened, William couldn’t utter a single word.
It took a long time before he regained enough composure to explain everything. Slowly, he recounted in detail what had happened at the shareholders’ meeting.
"I can’t believe Eleanor has such a powerful family behind her," he said. "I knew her mother’s surname was Langford, but I never imagined she was connected to the Langfords of Birmingham. You were her secretary for years... how could you miss something so important?" Jeanne asked sharply.
William shook his head. "She never mentioned it. Not to any of us. We were relying on the Grant family’s power and connections here. She never once used her father’s influence. Even when she died, her father was the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal... but she never said a word about it."
Jennifer added, "Maybe she had a falling out with her family. I remember her grave was in Manchester. Even after death, she didn’t return to her family."
Jeanne said, "What’s done is done. But how on earth did Eleanor get those transfer deeds from your study? Someone in this house must have helped her. Maybe one of the staff went in while cleaning."