Chapter 8 - The Sister Who Never Died)
Daniel had a sister.
Claire had seen photographs.
A smiling teenage girl with dark hair.
Margaret kept one framed picture in the upstairs hallway.
Every year on Rebecca's birthday, Margaret lit a candle.
Every Christmas, Daniel claimed there was one person missing from the table.
Claire had comforted him.
She had held him while he described the night police came to tell the family Rebecca had died in a highway accident.
Now Claire stared at proof that Rebecca Morgan had opened a bank account in Geneva three years ago.
"This can't be real."
Rebecca Sloan examined the documents.
"It appears real."
Rachel picked up one photograph.
"Why would the entire family lie?"
"Maybe the entire family didn't know."
Claire remembered Daniel's face when Edward mentioned Harold's letter.
Confusion.
Real confusion.
"What if Daniel thinks she's dead?"
Rachel stared.
"Then Margaret knows something he doesn't."
Claire searched the envelopes.
Another document appeared.
A birth certificate.
Rebecca Anne Morgan.
Then a legal name change.
Rebecca Anne Morgan became Anna Rebecca North.
A passport copy.
Residential records.
Then one handwritten letter.
Harold's writing.
Margaret believes hiding Rebecca saved the family.
I believe it destroyed what was left of us.
Claire read faster.
Rebecca discovered the financial fraud at seventeen.
She threatened to go to authorities.
Margaret panicked.
There had been a car accident.
But Rebecca was not inside the vehicle.
Margaret used the confusion surrounding another passenger's death to make Rebecca disappear.
Claire stopped.
"That's impossible."
Rebecca Sloan read over her shoulder.
"Not impossible. Extremely criminal if true."
Rachel whispered.
"Why would Rebecca agree?"
Claire found the answer on the next page.
Because Margaret threatened Daniel.
Rebecca had believed her brother was innocent.
Margaret told her that if Rebecca exposed the financial crimes, Daniel would be prosecuted because several transfers had been made through accounts in his name.
Rebecca accepted a new identity.
Harold secretly financed her life abroad.
For years, almost no one knew.
Then Daniel eventually became involved in the same financial fraud Rebecca had tried to stop.
Claire felt an unexpected wave of sadness.
Two children.
One mother.
Two different forms of control.
Rachel found another letter.
"This one is recent."
Dated eighteen months earlier.
From Rebecca to Harold.
Grandfather,
Daniel contacted me.
Claire looked up.
"He knows."
Rachel continued reading.
Daniel had discovered Rebecca was alive.
He demanded access to the money Harold had placed in Northbridge for her protection.
Rebecca refused.
Daniel threatened to reveal her location to Margaret.
Claire felt sick.
"So the eight million."
Rachel nodded.
"He took it."
"How?"
Rebecca Sloan pointed at authorization forms.
"Possibly coercion."
Claire looked through the records.
Daniel had not simply known his sister was alive.
He had used her.
The door to the private viewing room opened.
The bank manager looked apologetic.
"Ms. Morgan, there is a gentleman upstairs insisting on speaking with you."
Claire knew before he said the name.
"Daniel?"
The manager nodded.
"He says he is your husband."
Rebecca Sloan closed the metal box.
"Do you want security to remove him?"
Claire thought for a moment.
"No."
Rachel stared at her.
"Claire."
"I want to hear what he says."
"After last night?"
"We're in a bank with security."
Rebecca studied Claire.
"Your choice."
They went upstairs.
Daniel stood near the marble entrance.
No suit today.
Dark sweater.
No tie.
He looked tired.
Almost human.
"Claire."
She stopped fifteen feet away.
"You hit me."
Pain crossed his face.
"I know."
"You drugged my wine."
"No."
"Your mother did?"
"I didn't know about that."
"Do you expect me to believe you?"
"I expect you to know me."
Claire almost laughed.
"I don't."
Daniel looked at Rachel.
"Can we speak alone?"
"No."
His eyes returned to Claire.
"I made mistakes."
"Is Rebecca alive?"
Daniel froze.
That was the answer.
Claire continued.
"Does your mother know you found her?"
Daniel glanced toward the vault hallway.
"Where did you get that name?"
"Is she alive?"
He lowered his voice.
"Claire."
"Yes or no."
Daniel looked around.
Then whispered.
"Yes."
Rachel closed her eyes.
Claire felt something inside her harden.
"You spent years crying about your dead sister."
"I couldn't tell you."
"Why?"
"Because my family is complicated."
"You let me comfort you."
"I was grieving."
"Someone who wasn't dead?"
"The sister I knew was gone."
Claire stepped closer.
"Did you take eight million dollars from her?"
Daniel's face changed.
"That money belonged to the company."
"No. Harold put it in trust for Rebecca."
"He stole it from us first."
Claire stared.
There it was.
Entitlement.
The engine beneath everything.
"Did you marry me for my money?"
Daniel looked wounded.
"That's not fair."
"It is the simplest question you've been asked in eight years."
"I love you."
"That wasn't the question."
He looked down.
Claire felt her heart breaking with almost clinical clarity.
Finally Daniel said, "At the beginning, I knew who you were."
Rachel turned away.
Claire nodded.
"Margaret arranged it."
"Yes."
"Did you approach me because of the trust?"
Daniel took a long breath.
"At first."
Claire closed her eyes.
There it was.
One word destroying eight years.
At first.
Daniel stepped closer.
"But then it became real."
"For you?"
"Yes."
"You lied every day."
"I was trying to protect what we'd built."
"You mean what you needed."
"No."
"What happens in nineteen days?"
Daniel went silent.
Claire continued.
"You lose the company."
"Claire, listen."
"And I become controlling owner."
"It's more complicated."
"Is it?"
"If the loan defaults, hundreds of employees could lose jobs."
There it was.
The new strategy.
Guilt.
Daniel reached toward her.
She stepped back.
"If you ever touch me again, it will be through an attorney."
His face tightened.
"Your father is filling your head with poison."
Claire smiled sadly.
"No, Daniel."
She looked toward the vault.
"My mother left me the antidote."
Then Daniel said something she did not expect.
"Your mother wasn't protecting you."
Claire stopped.
He lowered his voice.
"She was protecting herself."
Claire stared.
"What does that mean?"
Daniel's expression became strange.
"Ask your father where the first ten million dollars came from."
Claire turned toward Edward, who had just entered the bank lobby.
Her father's face changed.
Daniel smiled.
For the first time since dinner, he looked confident.
"Go ahead, Claire."
May you like
He pointed at Edward.
"Ask him."
