Chapter 5 - The LedgerVictor Hale had been in Daniel’s life for years.
A quiet investor.
A consultant.
A man who rarely raised his voice.
He had once helped Daniel expand his company.
Daniel had trusted him.
Now he was standing in the basement doorway.
“I wondered when you’d find that.”
Daniel spun around.
Victor raised both hands.
“Relax.”
Claire stepped in front of Ivy’s bedroom door.
“You followed us?”
“No.”
“Then how did you get here?”
Victor glanced at the ledger.
“Because your mother told me.”
Daniel stared.
“What did she hire you to do?”
Victor sighed.
“This isn’t about your wife.”
“Then what is it about?”
“Your mother believes the family is falling apart.”
“She caused the fountain incident.”
Victor didn’t deny it.
“She told me she needed to protect Ivy.”
“By pushing her?”
“I wasn’t there.”
“You were.”
Victor went silent.
Daniel stepped closer.
“I saw the photograph.”
“You saw me.”
“I saw you.”
Victor looked at Claire.
“She really is pregnant?”
Claire’s hand instinctively moved to her stomach.
“Yes.”
Victor lowered his eyes.
“Then this is worse than I thought.”
Daniel grabbed his arm.
“What does that mean?”
Victor pulled free.
“You need to understand something.”
“I understand enough.”
“No.”
Victor looked directly at him.
“Your mother is not trying to destroy Claire.”
Daniel frowned.
“She is trying to save herself.”
“From what?”
Victor hesitated.
“The trust.”
Daniel’s expression darkened.
“I already know about the trust.”
“You know half of it.”
Victor glanced toward the ledger.
“That ledger contains payments your mother made to me.”
“How much?”
“Almost four million.”
Claire inhaled sharply.
Daniel looked at the pages.
The payments spanned nearly a decade.
“What did she buy?”
Victor looked away.
“Silence.”
Silence about what?
Victor refused to answer.
Daniel pushed.
“What happened to Elena?”
Victor’s face changed.
“I was told Elena died in a car accident.”
“She did.”
“No.”
Victor looked at him.
“That’s what the report says.”
Daniel’s voice became ice cold.
“What are you saying?”
Victor stepped backward.
“I’m saying your mother has been hiding something since before Ivy was born.”
Daniel felt his stomach turn.
Victor took something from his pocket.
A key.
He placed it on the table.
“Your father had a second office.”
Daniel stared at him.
“I thought that office was demolished.”
“It wasn’t.”
“Where is it?”
Victor gave him an address.
Daniel recognized it.
An abandoned commercial building his family had owned.
“Why are you giving me this?”
“Because I don't want to be part of this anymore.”
“You already are.”
Victor nodded.
“That’s why I’m warning you.”
He headed for the door.
Daniel stopped him.
“Why did Margaret hire you to stand behind the fountain?”
Victor paused.
“She wanted photographs.”
“Of what?”
“You.”
“Me?”
“With Claire.”
Daniel frowned.
“She wanted evidence?”
Victor looked back.
“She wanted a story.”
“What story?”
“That Claire was losing control.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“And the fall?”
Victor said nothing.
“You knew.”
“I knew she wanted Ivy near the edge.”
Daniel lunged.
Victor stepped away.
“I didn’t touch your daughter.”
“But you watched.”
“Yes.”
“How could you?”
Victor’s face tightened.
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of my mother?”
Victor looked at the floor.
“Of what she would reveal about me.”
Then he walked away.
Daniel stood frozen.
Claire approached.
“Daniel.”
He didn’t answer.
She touched his arm.
“What now?”
He looked at the ledger.
Then the key.
Then the door.
“We find out what Elena knew.”
The next morning, Daniel took Claire and Ivy to the old office.
The building had been locked for years.
Dust covered everything.
Victor’s key opened the main door.
Inside, the air smelled stale.
They moved through dark hallways.
Daniel found the old office at the end.
There was a desk.
A broken lamp.
A filing cabinet.
And one framed photograph.
His father.
Elena.
Margaret.
Daniel.
The family had looked happy.
But the photograph had been scratched across Margaret’s face.
Claire pointed to the wall.
“There.”
A tiny safe was hidden behind a painting.
Daniel opened it.
Inside was a stack of letters.
All from Elena.
The first was dated eleven years ago.
The last was dated three days before her death.
Daniel unfolded it.
Margaret has discovered the account.
His hands trembled.
He read on.
She thinks she can use the trust to control Daniel.
Another page.
Victor knows.
Another.
I confronted her.
Another.
If anything happens to me, the money is not the reason.
Daniel stopped.
Claire whispered, “What?”
He read the final paragraph.
The money only matters because it gives her power. The real secret is what she did before I met Daniel.
Daniel slowly lowered the letter.
Claire stared at him.
“What did Margaret do?”
Before he could answer, a noise came from the hallway.
Someone was inside the building.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
Approaching.
Daniel grabbed a metal bar from the floor.
May you like
The footsteps stopped outside the door.
Then the handle began to turn.
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