Chapter 11 - Margaret's Bargain)
Margaret was found the next morning.
She did not run far.
Police located her at an old Ashford-owned hunting lodge near Newburyport.
She surrendered without resistance.
When Richard entered the interrogation room, Margaret smiled.
“You look terrible.”
“You look arrested.”
“I haven’t been charged.”
“Give it time.”
Margaret leaned back.
“You always were dramatic.”
Richard placed Michael’s photograph on the table.
“Did you order his death?”
Margaret’s smile disappeared.
“No.”
“Did you know his brakes were cut?”
“No.”
“Did Vale?”
“I don’t know.”
Richard slammed both palms down.
“STOP LYING!”
Margaret stared at him.
Then looked through the observation glass.
“I want Hannah.”
Richard frowned.
“Why?”
“Because she’s the Protector.”
Richard froze.
“You knew.”
“Not until last night.”
“How?”
“I found Thomas’s files.”
Margaret smiled faintly.
“And our father left more breadcrumbs than he realized.”
Hannah entered ten minutes later.
Cole warned her not to negotiate privately.
Margaret looked at Hannah.
“You remind me of Eleanor.”
“I’m told that’s a compliment.”
“It isn’t.”
Hannah sat.
“Tell me about Michael.”
Margaret leaned forward.
“I’ll give you Vale.”
“In exchange for?”
“My immunity.”
“No.”
Margaret laughed.
“You don’t have authority to grant immunity.”
“Exactly.”
“Then bring someone who does.”
“No.”
Margaret’s eyes narrowed.
Hannah continued.
“You spent eleven months treating me like an idiot. You froze my money. You humiliated my son. You threw us into the cold.”
Margaret looked bored.
“And now?”
“Now you need me.”
Margaret said nothing.
“So you’ll talk first.”
“I don’t need you that badly.”
Hannah stood.
Margaret immediately said:
“Michael wasn’t Vale’s target.”
Hannah stopped.
“Sit.”
Hannah did.
Margaret looked toward the glass.
“Vale wanted the second trust.”
“Why?”
“Because Haven depended on acquiring controlling Ashford assets before Owen became eligible.”
“He’s four.”
“The trust begins transferring authority long before adulthood.”
“When?”
Margaret smiled.
“His fifth birthday.”
Hannah’s heart stopped.
Owen would turn five in six weeks.
“What happens then?”
“He receives the first voting block.”
“How much?”
“Ten percent.”
“That doesn’t explain murder.”
“It does when that ten percent prevents Haven from completing its largest transfer.”
Hannah stared.
“What transfer?”
Margaret leaned closer.
“The North Shore portfolio.”
Richard entered despite Cole’s objection.
“What portfolio?”
Margaret looked at him.
“Dad never told you?”
“Tell me.”
“Twenty-two miles of undeveloped coastline.”
Richard stared.
“That land was sold.”
“No.”
Margaret smiled.
“It was hidden.”
“Where?”
“In the second trust.”
Jonathan calculated the potential value later.
More than two billion dollars.
Project Haven intended to transfer it through shell companies before Owen’s fifth birthday.
Michael discovered the plan.
Hannah asked Margaret:
“Why did you throw us out?”
For the first time, Margaret looked embarrassed.
“I thought removing Owen from Ashford Hall would invalidate his protected residency.”
Jonathan shook his head.
“You misunderstood Article Seventeen.”
“Yes.”
“You activated it instead.”
“Yes.”
Richard almost laughed.
Margaret glared at him.
“You think this is funny?”
“I think Dad finally beat you from the grave.”
Margaret turned back to Hannah.
“Vale will kill for that land.”
“He already did.”
Margaret shook her head.
“I told you. Michael wasn’t Vale’s target.”
“Then whose brakes were supposed to fail?”
Margaret stared at Richard.
Richard slowly stopped smiling.
Hannah looked between them.
“No.”
Margaret whispered:
“Michael borrowed Richard’s Range Rover that night.”
Richard went pale.
Hannah understood.
The vehicle that crashed had been registered to Michael’s company.
But originally?
Richard nodded slowly.
“It was mine.”
Margaret leaned back.
“The person who cut those brakes thought Richard would be driving.”
Hannah stared.
“Then Michael died by mistake?”
Margaret shook her head.
“No.”
“What do you mean?”
“Michael survived the crash.”
The room went silent.
Hannah could hear her own heartbeat.
“What?”
May you like
Margaret looked directly at her.
“The crash didn’t kill your husband.”
