Chapter 11 - WHAT HIS NAME WAS WORTH
Daniel read the transfer record until the numbers stopped looking like numbers.
His father’s first major expansion.
The purchase everyone described as a bold gamble.
The beginning of the fortune.
Part of it had been financed with money stolen from a dead man’s child.
From Claire.
From the woman Daniel had once accused of caring too much about what she was owed.
He pushed back his chair.
“Rachel, what do we do?”
His attorney looked at Claire first.
“We establish the facts. Claire needs independent counsel. You don’t get to decide the remedy for both of you.”
Daniel nodded.
“Of course.”
Claire’s expression remained guarded.
“You don’t have to perform being decent.”
“I’m not trying to.”
“Then let me be angry without fixing my face.”
He sat back down.
“All right.”
Evelyn gave Reyes copies of correspondence, account records, and notes from meetings with Daniel’s father. The originals remained in their protective folders.
There was enough to follow.
Not enough to make twenty-five years disappear.
That afternoon, Daniel attended the emergency board meeting by video.
Warren appeared beside two directors who had known Daniel since childhood.
He looked concerned.
It was an excellent performance.
“We’re worried about your judgment,” Warren said.
Daniel placed Rachel beside him in frame.
“Then let’s discuss the consulting contract I approved for Marcus.”
One director frowned.
“This meeting concerns your conduct.”
“It also concerns unauthorized transfers from company accounts.”
Warren leaned back.
“Allegations made by an angry former spouse.”
Daniel looked directly into the camera.
“Claire was found restrained in my house. My daughter was assaulted. The police are investigating. You will not use this meeting to attack either of them.”
Rachel distributed a limited set of verified transaction records through the board’s counsel.
The room on the screen went quiet.
Daniel continued.
“I’m requesting an independent audit. I’ll step away from decisions involving these allegations. So should anyone connected to the receiving accounts.”
Warren smiled thinly.
“You think you’re ready to run a company without your father’s shadow?”
Daniel thought of Lily waiting beside his chair.
“I’m ready to stop hiding in it.”
The vote did not give him everything he wanted.
But it ordered the audit.
Warren left the call without another word.
Ten minutes later, Reyes called.
“Vanessa has asked to speak.”
“To you?”
“Yes.”
May you like
“What does she want?”
“A deal. And she says Marcus wasn’t planning to leave Claire alive if he found what he needed.”
