Chapter 10 - THE VIDEO
Daniel refused to send the video.
He wanted a trade.
Rebecca’s laptop for whatever evidence he possessed about my mother.
Margaret called it a trap.
My father called it blackmail.
I called Daniel back anyway.
“Where?”
He hesitated.
“A public place.”
“Choose one.”
He named a hotel restaurant in Manhattan.
Two hours.
I agreed.
My father nearly exploded when I told him.
“You are not handing that laptop to Daniel.”
“I’m not planning to.”
“Then what exactly are you planning?”
“To see what he has.”
Margaret stood across from him in the library.
The two had not spoken directly since she returned.
Their reunion was colder than the winter outside.
Arthur looked at her.
“You encouraged this?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“I think Claire should meet him somewhere we control.”
“That is encouraging it.”
“It is adapting to reality.”
My father glared at her.
“You stole my granddaughter.”
“To protect her from the security system you failed to secure.”
His face tightened.
Margaret did not flinch.
I stepped between them.
“We can argue about fifteen years of family history after we stop someone from trying to kill me.”
That ended the discussion.
Adrian prepared the meeting.
Plainclothes security entered the hotel first.
Police were notified but kept at a distance because Daniel had not yet been formally charged with anything connected to the larger conspiracy.
The restaurant was nearly empty when I entered.
Daniel sat in a corner booth.
He looked terrible.
Unshaven.
Wrinkled shirt.
Bloodshot eyes.
For a moment, I almost remembered the man I married.
Then I remembered Lily’s crib.
I sat across from him.
“Where is the video?”
“Where’s the laptop?”
“No.”
He laughed bitterly.
“You haven’t changed.”
“I changed enough to marry you.”
That hurt him.
Good.
Daniel leaned forward.
“You don’t understand what you’re involved in.”
“I understand you stole from my father’s company, had an affair, bugged my house, collected my medical records, and helped someone plan to use our daughter as leverage.”
His face tightened.
“Vanessa talked.”
“Enough.”
“She doesn’t know everything.”
“Then tell me.”
Daniel looked around.
“Thomas approached me two years ago.”
“I know.”
“He knew who you were before I did.”
That surprised me.
“What?”
“He knew you were Arthur’s daughter when we met.”
My stomach twisted.
“Did you?”
“No.”
I studied him.
For once, I believed him.
“When did you find out?”
“A year after we married.”
“How?”
“Thomas told me.”
“Why?”
“Because he wanted me angry.”
“Angry about what?”
“That you didn’t trust me.”
I almost laughed.
“You proved that concern well founded.”
Daniel looked away.
“He said your family would never accept me. That you would eventually inherit control while I remained the husband standing beside you.”
“And that offended you.”
“Yes.”
The honesty shocked me.
“At least you admit it.”
“I was stupid.”
“You were greedy.”
“Both.”
He reached into his jacket.
Adrian’s voice sounded quietly in the receiver hidden beneath my hair.
Stay calm.
Daniel placed a small drive on the table.
“The video is there.”
I reached for it.
He covered it with his hand.
“Laptop first.”
“I didn’t bring it.”
His face transformed.
“You what?”
“I’m not giving you evidence.”
“You don’t know what’s on that drive.”
“And you don’t know where the laptop is.”
Daniel stared at me.
Then laughed.
“You sound like your father.”
“I’ll survive the insult.”
His laugh disappeared.
“Claire, Thomas will kill me.”
“Why?”
“Because I took money.”
“I know.”
“Not company money.”
I frowned.
“His money.”
“How much?”
“Fourteen million.”
I nearly choked.
“How?”
“Crypto transfers. Foreign accounts.”
“Why?”
“Because I realized he planned to cut me out.”
“So you stole from the man who recruited you into a criminal conspiracy.”
“When you say it like that—”
“There is no better way to say it.”
Daniel rubbed his face.
“Vanessa helped.”
“Does Thomas know?”
“Yes.”
“Where is the money?”
“Safe.”
I stared at him.
“You destroyed our family for fourteen million dollars?”
“No.”
“Then what was Vanessa?”
His eyes dropped.
“Real.”
That hurt more than I expected.
Not because I wanted him back.
But because betrayal becomes strangely sharper when the betrayer refuses to diminish it.
“You loved her?”
“I thought I did.”
“And me?”
Silence.
That was answer enough.
I looked toward the window.
Daniel whispered, “I did once.”
“Once isn’t useful anymore.”
He pushed the drive toward me.
“Take it.”
I looked at him.
“What changed?”
“I’m tired.”
“Of what?”
“Being afraid.”
For the first time, Daniel looked genuinely human.
Then he said something I did not expect.
“I didn’t throw the crib outside because of Vanessa.”
My anger returned.
“I don’t care why.”
“You should.”
“Why?”
“Thomas was watching.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“The device in the living room had video.”
Adrian’s voice sharpened in my earpiece.
Video capability was not detected.
Daniel continued.
“Thomas told me to make you leave the house.”
“Why?”
“He wanted you separated from security.”
“What security? I didn’t have security.”
“Your father had people watching the property after the merger audit began.”
I did not know that.
Of course my father had.
Daniel continued.
“Thomas wanted you emotionally unstable. He wanted footage.”
“Of me reacting?”
“Yes.”
I felt sick.
“You humiliated me for evidence.”
“I thought it would keep him satisfied.”
“You could have told me.”
“He threatened Lily.”
The words stopped me.
“When?”
“Three days after she was born.”
Daniel’s eyes became wet.
“He sent me a photograph of her in the hospital nursery.”
I stared.
“He said if I didn’t follow instructions, she would disappear.”
Part of me wanted to believe him.
Another part remembered every cruel word.
“Then why the affair?”
He closed his eyes.
“No excuse.”
“Correct.”
“Vanessa was already involved with Thomas.”
That surprised me.
“Before you?”
“Yes.”
“What kind of involved?”
“Working for him.”
“Romantically?”
“I don’t know.”
He looked exhausted.
“She recruited me into the expense scheme.”
Now the timeline shifted.
Daniel was guilty.
But perhaps not in the way I thought.
“How much does Vanessa know?”
“Enough to get killed.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“You attacked her at the motel.”
His eyes widened.
“No.”
“We heard you.”
“I broke into the room.”
“That’s not helping.”
“I was trying to get her out before Thomas’s people arrived.”
“You hit her.”
Daniel looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
I stood.
“We’re done.”
“Claire.”
I picked up the drive.
He grabbed my wrist.
Immediately two security officers moved from nearby tables.
Daniel released me.
“I’m sorry.”
I stared at him.
“For which part?”
He had no answer.
I walked away.
Back at the secure vehicle, Adrian inserted the drive into an isolated computer.
One video file.
No title.
We played it.
The image showed an office.
Thomas Keane stood beside a window.
Daniel’s voice came from somewhere off camera.
Thomas was speaking.
“The child changes the succession structure.”
Daniel replied, “Claire isn’t going to give up control.”
“She doesn’t have to.”
“What does that mean?”
Thomas turned toward the camera.
Then he said the sentence that made my blood freeze.
“Widowers receive sympathy, Daniel. Especially widowers raising newborn daughters.”
My father stopped breathing.
The video continued.
Daniel said, “I’m not killing my wife.”
Thomas smiled.
“You won’t have to.”
Then another person entered the room.
A woman.
Her face appeared clearly.
Margaret Vale whispered, “Impossible.”
I stared at the screen.
Because the woman standing beside Thomas was someone I had known my entire life.
Someone who had hugged me at my mother’s funeral.
Someone who had brought soup after Lily was born.
My father’s younger sister.
My Aunt Caroline.
May you like
And she looked directly at Thomas and said:
“Claire’s mother should have died sooner too.”
