Chapter 13 - the traitor inside the ashford estate
The estate went into lockdown.
Every employee was accounted for.
Thirty-two household staff.
Eleven security personnel.
Six groundskeepers.
Three temporary contractors.
Daniel ordered background checks repeated from scratch.
Lily thought it was an elaborate game.
Claire allowed her to believe that for one evening.
The first irregularity appeared at 2:10 a.m.
One kitchen employee had used false employment references.
Marcus brought him in.
He turned out to be an undocumented worker terrified of deportation, not a spy.
The second irregularity belonged to a gardener with unpaid gambling debt.
Nothing connected him to Silverbird.
The third was worse.
Rachel.
Claire stared at the file.
"No."
Marcus remained careful.
"Her background isn't false."
"Then what's wrong?"
"She received three payments totaling ninety thousand dollars."
Claire laughed in disbelief.
"Rachel has been my friend since college."
"Maybe there's an explanation."
"There is."
Claire called her immediately.
Rachel answered from the guest wing.
"What happened?"
"Come downstairs."
Five minutes later she entered the study in pajamas.
Then she saw the documents.
Her face changed.
Claire's heart sank.
"What is this?"
Rachel sat slowly.
"I can explain."
Daniel closed the door.
Claire felt betrayed before hearing anything.
"Ninety thousand dollars."
"It wasn't payment."
"What was it?"
"A settlement."
"For what?"
Rachel looked toward Daniel.
"From Ashford Holdings."
Daniel frowned.
"I've never authorized payment to you."
"Your brother did."
Claire stared.
"Thomas?"
Rachel began crying.
"Seven years ago."
Claire almost could not speak.
"You knew him?"
"No. Not really."
"What does that mean?"
Rachel wiped her face.
"When you were pregnant, I got a call."
"From Thomas?"
"He said he represented Daniel."
Claire felt sick.
"What did he want?"
"He wanted information."
"What information?"
"Where you were staying. Which doctor you used. Whether you planned to contact Daniel again."
"And you told him?"
"No."
Rachel reached toward Claire.
Claire stepped back.
"I told him to go to hell."
"Then why ninety thousand?"
"Because three days later I was hit by a car."
Silence.
Rachel continued.
"I survived. My leg was shattered."
Claire remembered.
Rachel had told her it was a hit-and-run.
"The settlement?"
"The driver worked for an Ashford subsidiary. Thomas offered money if I signed a nondisclosure agreement."
Daniel's expression darkened.
"Do you still have it?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't you tell Claire?"
"She was nine months pregnant and terrified. Then Lily was born early. Then everything became about surviving."
Claire sat.
The betrayal dissolved into something else.
Another stolen truth.
Rachel looked at her.
"I'm sorry."
Claire took her hand.
"No. I'm sorry."
Marcus's radio crackled.
Movement near the east wing.
Security ran.
A figure was seen crossing the garden.
By the time they reached the wall, the person was gone.
But inside Lily's bedroom, a window stood open.
Claire ran to the bed.
Empty.
"No."
Daniel reached the room behind her.
"Lily!"
No answer.
Claire screamed her name.
Then a small voice came from the bathroom.
"Mom?"
Lily emerged holding a toothbrush.
Claire dropped to her knees and grabbed her.
Daniel shut his eyes in relief.
Marcus approached the window.
The intruder had not taken Lily.
Instead, something had been placed on her pillow.
A white envelope.
Inside was a photograph of Daniel outside Lily's school years earlier.
Claire stared.
"You said you didn't know about her."
Daniel looked equally confused.
"I didn't."
The photograph was dated five years ago.
Daniel stood on the sidewalk outside a Manhattan building.
Across the street, Lily and Claire were visible entering a pediatric clinic.
Daniel stared.
"I was there for a board meeting."
"Someone photographed all three of us deliberately."
Marcus checked the building.
An Ashford subsidiary had maintained offices there.
Claire understood.
"Someone was documenting near misses."
Daniel looked at the photograph.
"Why?"
Elena entered.
"To prove manipulation."
They turned.
She continued.
"Silverbird kept a file called Separation Events."
Claire's skin crawled.
"What is that?"
"Every time Daniel and Claire might have accidentally encountered each other, someone intervened."
Daniel stared.
"How many?"
"At least eleven."
Claire almost laughed from disbelief.
"Eleven?"
"Once at an airport. Twice in Manhattan. A charity race. A hospital. This clinic."
Daniel remembered.
"The hospital."
Claire looked at him.
"What?"
"The day Lily was born."
Her body went cold.
Daniel continued.
"I was at Mercy General."
"So was I."
They stared at each other.
Claire whispered, "Why were you there?"
"My friend was in surgery."
"Lily was born on the fourth floor."
"I was on the fifth."
Claire felt tears.
They had been one floor apart.
Daniel took the photograph.
"Someone knew."
Elena nodded.
"Yes."
"Why go to this much effort?"
"Because if you met Lily even once, Thomas feared you'd question everything."
Claire held her daughter tighter.
Marcus looked out the open window.
"Whoever entered knew our blind spots."
Daniel turned.
"Which means?"
"They had security access."
Everyone became silent.
Marcus's expression changed.
He walked to the hallway panel.
Typed a command.
Then stared.
"What?"
Daniel joined him.
One security credential had opened the east gate at 2:03 a.m.
Daniel read the name.
"No."
Claire stepped closer.
The credential belonged to Marcus Reed.
Marcus stared at the screen.
"I didn't open that gate."
Daniel looked at his oldest friend and security chief.
Marcus slowly removed his weapon and placed it on the floor.
"Someone cloned my credentials."
Daniel said nothing.
Marcus continued.
"But until you prove that, you can't trust me."
For the first time, Daniel looked afraid.
May you like
Not because he thought Marcus guilty.
Because Marcus was right.
