Chapter 10 - Richard’s Real Debt
Richard denied any involvement in the ransom demand.
Claire confronted him at the secured residence while Ortiz recorded the conversation.
“I never asked to be co-chairman,” he said.
“Vale wants you beside me.”
“He wants to divide us.”
“He doesn’t need to try.”
Richard looked older than he had at Christmas dinner. The television appearances and expensive coat could not conceal his exhaustion.
“How much do you owe?” Claire asked.
“That is irrelevant.”
“How much?”
He poured himself a glass of water but did not drink.
“Twenty-eight million.”
Cole let out a low breath.
“Gambling?” Claire asked.
“Investments.”
“Failed investments?”
“Some.”
“Illegal investments?”
Richard said nothing.
Ortiz leaned forward.
“Who are your creditors?”
“A private lending group.”
“Name?”
“Northstar Capital.”
Cole opened his laptop.
“Northstar is controlled through shell companies connected to Vale.”
Richard closed his eyes.
Claire felt anger burn through her.
“You borrowed money from him.”
“I did not know who controlled the fund.”
“Did you tell him about the checks?”
“No.”
“Did Brittany?”
“Possibly.”
“Why would Vale want you as co-chairman?”
“Because I owe him.”
“And once you controlled the voting trust, he could force you to vote his way.”
Richard finally drank the water.
“I thought the Bellweather money was a family myth. When Evelyn mentioned activating the trust last year, I assumed I could use my share to settle the debt.”
“Last year?”
Claire turned toward Cole.
“He knew about the plan long before Christmas.”
Richard’s face hardened.
“I knew Evelyn intended to test the family.”
“And you still humiliated her.”
“She humiliated me first.”
“How?”
“She said I was unfit to inherit anything.”
“She was right.”
Richard slammed the glass onto the table.
“You know nothing about what I did for her.”
“Then tell me.”
He paced toward the window.
“After your grandfather died, Evelyn’s false identity began collapsing. Tax records didn’t match. Old Bellweather investigators resurfaced. I spent years paying people to protect her.”
“With borrowed money?”
“At first, with my own.”
Claire had never heard this version of their history.
Richard continued.
“I moved documents. Bribed clerks. Bought the Hawthorne house through intermediaries. Every year, the cost increased.”
“Why didn’t Grandma use her money?”
“She refused to touch the trust.”
“So you resent her.”
“I resent watching billions sit untouched while I destroyed myself keeping her secret.”
“That doesn’t explain twenty-eight million.”
“No. Greed explains the rest.”
The admission silenced the room.
Richard sat down.
“I believed I deserved compensation. I invested aggressively. When I lost, I borrowed more.”
Claire had expected excuses.
His honesty made her anger more complicated, not less.
“Did you give Vale information?”
“Only after Northstar threatened Brittany.”
“What information?”
“Evelyn’s address. Her routines. The Christmas dinner.”
Ortiz stood.
“You facilitated a kidnapping.”
“I didn’t know they planned to take her.”
“You exposed her.”
“I was trying to buy time.”
Claire looked at the ransom photograph.
“You gave him Grandma.”
Richard’s voice broke.
“I know.”
For several seconds, no one spoke.
Then Richard reached inside his coat.
Ortiz’s hand moved toward her weapon.
He removed a small brass cylinder.
The ledger key Brittany had given Vale.
Claire stared.
“How do you have that?”
“I switched it before Brittany went to the garage.”
“Then what did she give him?”
“A replica.”
Cole examined the cylinder.
“Why?”
“Because I knew Vale would kill us once he had the real key.”
“Why didn’t you tell us earlier?”
“I needed leverage.”
Claire almost struck him.
“Grandma may be tortured while you protect your leverage.”
Richard accepted her fury without defending himself.
“The cylinder opens a Bellweather archive beneath the old industrial foundry. Evelyn once told me the complete ledger was stored there.”
“Once?”
“When she thought she could trust me.”
Ortiz took the cylinder as evidence.
The group prepared to move on the foundry.
Before they left, Richard stopped Claire.
“Vale’s demand is a trap. Even if you appoint me co-chairman, he won’t release Evelyn.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Evelyn is not the hostage he needs.”
“Then who is?”
“Martha.”
“The legal heir.”
“Maybe.”
Richard lowered his voice.
“Evelyn once told me that neither sister is Silas Bellweather’s biological child.”
Claire stared at him.
“That’s impossible.”
“Margaret Bellweather was already pregnant when she married Silas.”
“Then the trust has no valid heir.”
“Unless Silas changed the conditions.”
“Did he?”
“I don’t know.”
May you like
Richard looked toward the brass cylinder in Ortiz’s hand.
“But the answer may be inside the foundry.”
