Chapter 9 - The Mother’s Bargain
Police entered Miriam Vale’s disappearance into their system, but there was no immediate evidence of a crime.
Her phone had been turned off.
Her bank accounts were untouched.
Security footage showed her arriving at the airport alone, walking through the main terminal, and leaving through a service exit twenty minutes later.
A black sport utility vehicle waited outside.
The camera did not capture its plate.
Simon sent Claire a still image.
The vehicle resembled the one behind Victor Hale in the photograph.
Claire wanted to confront Daniel immediately.
Instead, she returned home and found him preparing dinner.
The domestic normalcy felt obscene.
He stood at the stove in a white shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows, stirring sauce as though he had not spent months recording his wife.
“I thought we could eat alone tonight,” he said.
“Where’s Gloria?”
“At a committee meeting.”
Claire placed her bag on the counter.
“She said she was removed from the committee.”
“A different committee.”
Daniel poured wine into two glasses.
Claire did not touch hers.
He served dinner in the small breakfast room rather than the formal dining room. Candles burned between them.
For a moment, Claire remembered the man she had married.
Daniel had once cooked for her during a winter storm when the power failed. They ate soup beside the fireplace and planned trips they never took.
Had that man ever existed?
Or had he simply been another performance?
Daniel reached across the table.
“I know things have been difficult.”
Claire looked at his hand but did not take it.
“I don’t want to lose you,” he said.
“What are you willing to lose instead?”
He frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“Your company? The house? Your mother?”
Daniel leaned back.
“Why would you include my mother?”
“Because she includes herself in our marriage.”
“She is trying to help.”
“Help whom?”
Daniel looked toward the dark window.
“I made an agreement.”
Claire kept her expression calm.
“With Victor Hale?”
His eyes returned to hers.
That was enough.
“You’ve been investigating me,” he said.
“I’ve been protecting myself.”
“Simon told you.”
“Which part?”
Daniel pushed away from the table.
“You don’t understand what is at stake.”
“Then explain it.”
“I borrowed money to save the company.”
“Using my house as collateral.”
“I believed we could restructure the trust.”
“You knew we couldn’t.”
“I knew you would refuse before listening.”
“That does not make the house yours.”
Daniel paced to the window.
“Hale is not a normal lender.”
“What does that mean?”
“He purchases weakness.”
“You offered him mine.”
Daniel turned.
“I offered him an option. I thought I could repay the debt before it mattered.”
“And when you couldn’t?”
His silence filled the room.
Claire stood.
“Where is Miriam?”
Daniel’s face changed.
“What?”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“She disappeared after someone claimed she signed trust documents.”
“I never met with her.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Daniel looked frightened now.
Not angry.
“Claire, listen to me. My mother handled the trustee issue.”
“What did she do?”
“I don’t know.”
“You allowed her to handle it without asking?”
“She said Miriam owed her a favor.”
“What favor?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire moved toward the door.
Daniel grabbed her wrist.
She looked down at his hand.
He released her immediately.
“Do not go to Simon tonight,” he said.
“Why?”
“Because Hale watches his office.”
A chill moved through her.
“How do you know?”
“I’ve seen his people outside.”
“The black vehicle?”
Daniel stared at her.
“You’ve seen it?”
“Who was inside?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“I met Hale twice. Everything else went through my mother.”
Claire stepped closer.
“Your mother is not powerful enough to control Victor Hale.”
“No,” Daniel whispered. “But she knows someone who is.”
The garden door opened.
Gloria entered carrying a leather handbag.
She stopped when she saw them standing together.
Daniel faced her.
“Claire knows about Hale.”
Gloria did not look surprised.
She removed her coat and placed it over a chair.
“I told you she would find out.”
“Where is Miriam?” Claire asked.
Gloria took Daniel’s untouched glass of wine and drank from it.
“Miriam is exactly where she chose to be.”
“Did you threaten her?”
“No.”
“Did Victor?”
Gloria smiled.
“You assume Victor is the highest person in the room.”
Claire remembered Hawthorne Holdings, the hidden company, and the nameless figure behind Daniel’s loans.
“Who is above him?”
May you like
Gloria placed the glass down.
“Someone your grandmother spent her entire life avoiding.”
