Chapter 10 - Partner, Victim, or Both
Daniel wanted Claire gone.
Rebecca wanted her talking.
They compromised.
Claire sat in the kitchen with the doors locked and Rosa upstairs with Mia.
Daniel remained standing.
“Start from the beginning.”
Claire wiped her eyes.
“Dad always chose you.”
Daniel nearly laughed.
“This is about childhood jealousy?”
“No. It’s about what jealousy made me willing to believe.”
That answer stopped him.
Claire continued.
“When Emily died, you disappeared into grief. Dad shifted more responsibility to me.”
“That happened because I took six months away.”
“I know.”
“Then why did you resent it?”
“Because when you came back, he gave everything back.”
“Because I was CEO.”
“You were always the heir.”
Daniel said nothing.
Claire looked down.
“Victor understood that.”
“How?”
“He listened.”
She explained.
Victor had approached her three years earlier, telling her Edmund intended to reduce her inheritance.
He showed her draft documents.
Some real.
Some, Claire now believed, altered.
Victor told her Hawthorne would make her independently wealthy.
“He said selling was the only way I’d ever stop living under your shadow.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“You were already wealthy.”
“Not like you.”
“There it is.”
Claire flinched.
“I’m not asking you to forgive me.”
“Good.”
She continued.
Victor brought her into negotiations with Hawthorne.
At first it was ordinary corporate strategy.
Then he asked her to approve vendors.
“I signed things I didn’t read carefully.”
“North Lake?”
“Yes.”
“You received money.”
“I thought it was consulting compensation.”
“Two million dollars?”
“Over several years.”
Daniel stared.
“You thought secret payments routed through shell companies were compensation?”
Claire looked away.
“I told myself that.”
Rebecca said quietly, “That makes you involved.”
“I know.”
“Potentially criminally.”
“I know.”
Daniel asked, “Why the trust?”
Claire swallowed.
“After Dad became ill, Victor said we needed control of Mia’s voting shares to guarantee the sale.”
“So he forged Schedule C.”
“I didn’t know it was forged.”
“But you knew you would gain control.”
“Yes.”
“And you agreed.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Hawthorne promised me a board seat and twelve million dollars after closing.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Twelve million to destroy a company worth hundreds of millions.”
“I didn’t think we were destroying it.”
“You thought you were winning.”
Claire looked at him.
“Yes.”
The honesty was ugly.
But useful.
Rebecca asked, “When did the child-neglect plan begin?”
“Last month.”
Daniel’s face tightened.
Claire continued.
“Victor said the trust protector clause required evidence that Daniel was unfit.”
“So you fabricated reports.”
“Victor did.”
“You helped.”
“I gave him schedules.”
“August 12.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Daniel felt sick.
“You knew Mia and I were in Boston.”
“Yes.”
“And you still let him accuse me of leaving her alone.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted control.”
Silence filled the kitchen.
Daniel wanted to hate her cleanly.
But clean hatred was impossible when the person across from you shared your childhood.
He remembered teaching Claire to ride a bicycle.
He remembered her breaking her wrist at eleven.
He remembered carrying her home.
Now she had helped build a case to take away his daughter.
Rebecca asked, “Saturday. What was supposed to happen?”
Claire spoke carefully.
“I was supposed to send Mia outside for the ball. Victor said there would be a photographer positioned beyond the property line.”
Daniel stared.
“A photographer?”
“To capture Mia alone by the pool.”
“And then?”
“I was supposed to call her back.”
“You didn’t.”
Claire looked miserable.
“I waited too long.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted the photograph to look worse.”
Daniel turned away.
Mia could have died because Claire wanted a more damaging picture.
Rebecca asked, “Who was the photographer?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you see anyone?”
“No.”
Jonah, who had been listening remotely through Rebecca’s laptop, suddenly spoke.
“Ask her whether Victor knew the mansion security system would be down.”
Daniel looked at Claire.
“Did he?”
Claire’s expression changed.
“The rain wasn’t the reason?”
Daniel froze.
Claire whispered, “Victor told me the exterior cameras would be offline for maintenance.”
Daniel looked toward the security panel.
The system had failed at 2:50 p.m.
Twenty-seven minutes before Mia fell.
He had assumed lightning caused it.
Claire shook her head slowly.
“The storm gave him cover.”
Rebecca said, “Who services your security system?”
Daniel knew the answer.
“Argus Residential.”
Jonah typed.
Then became silent.
“What?” Daniel asked.
Jonah turned his camera toward another screen.
Argus Residential’s corporate owner appeared.
Blue Cedar Holdings.
One of the shell-company nodes.
The conspiracy had access not only to the company.
It had access to Daniel’s home.
May you like
And if the mini camera had not been battery-powered and offline—
There would have been no footage at all.
