The Midnight Sale
Chapter 05 - The Midnight Sale
Meridian Crown Resorts planned to purchase the Vance Estate for six hundred million dollars.
The public proposal promised preservation, luxury tourism, and hundreds of jobs.
The confidential appendix promised something else.
The west gardens would become private villas.
The public art wing would close.
The servant quarters—where generations of domestic workers had lived—would be demolished for an underground spa.
Most importantly, the family archive would be transferred to a storage company controlled by Vivian’s brother.
Naomi found the appendix inside Vivian’s gala office.
Sebastian read it while guests waited in the ballroom.
“You told me the archive would remain here.”
“Storage is preservation,” Vivian said.
“It is disappearance with climate control.”
The sale contract required certification that no undisclosed heir held preservation rights.
Vivian had already signed that certification.
If Elena’s identity was verified, the document became fraudulent.
If Noah was recognized, the buyer could withdraw immediately.
That was why the gala had become a public trap.
Vivian wanted Elena recorded as an unstable employee attempting to claim a guest’s infant. The footage would support the clinic’s guardianship petition and discredit any later inheritance claim.
“She rehearsed the accusation,” Elena said.
The ballroom’s audiovisual technician confirmed that Vivian’s media team had prepared a press statement before the confrontation began.
Its title read:
VANCE ESTATE PROTECTS INFANT FROM DELUSIONAL EMPLOYEE.
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The story existed before Elena entered the room.
She had only been expected to perform inside it.
