Chapter 4 - the bride changed sides)
Daniel did not trust Claire.
Margaret trusted her even less.
But the envelope changed everything.
Inside was a photocopy of a handwritten ledger page dated October 13, thirty-one years earlier.
Six names appeared beneath a heading.
Blackthorn participants.
Charles Whitmore.
Richard Whitmore.
Senator Harold Keene.
Martin Vale.
Thomas Hale.
Elias Mercer.
Daniel read the final name twice.
"Elias Mercer?"
Margaret took the paper.
Her face changed.
"No."
"What?"
She pointed at the name.
"That was my mother's brother."
Daniel stared.
"My great-uncle?"
Margaret nodded.
"He disappeared when I was a teenager."
Claire watched from the doorway.
Daniel looked at her.
"Where did you get this?"
"My father's office."
"When?"
"Three months ago."
"Why were you searching his office?"
Claire looked away.
"Because I stopped trusting him."
Daniel laughed bitterly.
"You expect sympathy?"
"No."
"Good."
Claire took the insult without reacting.
Daniel held up the ledger.
"What does this mean?"
"I don't know."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"I know my father has been hiding something involving Blackthorn. I know he's terrified of whatever was left there. And I know your name started appearing in his private notes about eight months ago."
"My name?"
Claire nodded.
"He kept a folder."
Margaret stepped forward.
"What did it say?"
"Mostly information about Daniel's company, childhood, schools, medical records."
Daniel's anger returned.
"My medical records?"
Claire nodded.
"He investigated you before I ever introduced you."
Daniel felt a chill.
"When?"
"Almost three years ago."
Daniel and Claire had met two years earlier.
"You told me your father didn't know who I was until Christmas."
"He lied to both of us."
Daniel studied her.
"How did we meet?"
Claire looked confused.
"You know how."
"Say it."
"At the San Francisco Energy Foundation dinner."
"Who invited me?"
Claire hesitated.
Daniel understood before she answered.
"My father."
Margaret whispered, "This was arranged."
Claire shook her head.
"I didn't know."
Daniel laughed without humor.
"Convenient."
"I didn't."
"You humiliated my mother today."
Claire flinched.
"I know."
"You pushed her into a pool."
"I know."
"And now suddenly you're helping us?"
Claire's eyes filled, but she did not cry.
"Because when you threw that ring away, I realized my father had lost control of the situation."
"That's why?"
"And because five minutes after you ended the wedding, he came upstairs and told me something."
"What?"
"He told me to get you back."
Daniel stared.
Claire continued.
"Not because he cares about the marriage."
"Then why?"
"He said, 'Daniel Mercer cannot leave this family today.'"
Margaret and Daniel exchanged a glance.
Claire stepped inside and closed the door.
"He told me to apologize. Cry. Say whatever I needed to say."
"And you came here instead."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Claire gave a small, broken laugh.
"Because for the first time in my life, I realized my father might be afraid."
Daniel looked at her.
Claire had been raised to treat fear as weakness.
But Richard's fear had apparently frightened her more than his anger ever had.
"Why did you make my mother work today?"
Claire looked ashamed.
"My father asked me to."
Margaret's expression hardened.
"Why?"
"He wanted to see what you would do."
"What does that mean?"
Claire swallowed.
"He said if you were still the same woman you were thirty-one years ago, you would tolerate humiliation to protect Daniel."
Margaret went pale.
Daniel stepped toward Claire.
"He used my mother as a test?"
"Yes."
"And you agreed?"
Claire whispered, "Yes."
Daniel's jaw tightened.
Margaret touched his arm.
"Daniel."
He turned away.
Claire spoke quickly.
"I thought it was stupid. Cruel, maybe. But I didn't understand what it meant."
"You understood enough to tell her to kneel."
Claire's voice broke.
"I was angry."
"At what?"
Claire looked toward Margaret.
"At her."
"Why?"
"Because my father kept saying she could ruin everything."
Margaret stared.
"Everything?"
"He wouldn't explain."
Claire rubbed her hands together.
"I spent eighteen months planning today. Every time I asked about business problems, contracts, land deals, he said not to worry as long as Daniel and I were married."
Daniel's face changed.
"As long as we're married."
Claire nodded.
Daniel looked at his phone.
The Cascade Coast agreement.
The land rights.
The investment structure.
He suddenly understood why Richard had insisted on a specific wedding date.
"Was there a contract supposed to be signed today?"
Claire's silence answered.
Daniel stared at her.
"What contract?"
"I don't know exactly."
"Claire."
"My father planned to give it to you after the reception."
"What did he say it was?"
"A restructuring document for Cascade Coast."
Daniel felt sick.
He had almost signed dozens of papers during the wedding weekend.
If one document had been hidden among them...
Margaret looked at Claire.
"Where is it?"
"In his briefcase."
"Where?"
"The library."
Daniel moved toward the door.
Claire grabbed his arm.
"Don't."
He looked down at her hand.
She released him.
"My father's security people are still here."
Daniel frowned.
"Wedding security?"
Claire shook her head.
"No."
Margaret whispered, "Richard's men."
Claire nodded.
"There are six."
Daniel looked outside through the window.
Two men in dark suits stood near the terrace.
They had been there all morning.
Daniel had assumed they were ordinary security.
Now he noticed they were not facing outward.
They were watching the house.
Claire continued.
"If my father thinks you're leaving with your mother, he'll stop you."
Daniel smiled faintly.
"He's not going to imprison us."
Claire's expression told him she was not certain.
Daniel opened his phone.
"What are you doing?"
"Calling someone."
"Police?"
"No."
"Who?"
"My attorney."
Claire almost laughed.
"Your lawyer isn't going to fight six security guards."
Daniel looked at her.
"Rachel doesn't fight."
A pause.
"She investigates."
Twenty minutes later, attorney Rachel Kline arrived at Villa Marcelline accompanied by two private investigators and an off-duty sheriff's deputy employed by the firm for security consultations.
Richard's men suddenly became much less interested in blocking exits.
Daniel introduced Rachel to Margaret.
Then he handed her the ledger page.
Rachel read it silently.
"Where did this come from?"
Claire raised her hand slightly.
"My father's office."
Rachel looked at Daniel.
"We need to preserve everything."
"I want to go to Blackthorn."
Rachel shook her head.
"Not yet."
"It's being demolished."
"Nine days is enough time to get an emergency preservation order."
"Unless Richard moves first."
Rachel considered that.
"Does he know you know the location?"
"I don't know."
Claire spoke.
"He probably does now."
Everyone looked at her.
She pointed toward the hallway.
"My father disappeared ten minutes ago."
Daniel walked to the window.
Richard's black car was gone.
Rachel immediately called one of her investigators.
"Track public traffic cameras toward the coast. Legally accessible sources only."
Then she turned to Claire.
"Where is the contract?"
Claire looked toward the library.
They entered together.
Richard's briefcase remained on the desk.
Unlocked.
Daniel opened it.
Empty.
Claire searched the drawers.
Nothing.
Rachel examined the wastebasket.
Also empty.
Then Margaret noticed something.
A framed wedding photograph prototype had been placed face down on a side table.
She lifted it.
Beneath it was a folded document.
Daniel opened the page.
It was not a contract.
It was a letter.
Typed.
Unsigned.
Only one sentence appeared.
Margaret Vale has returned. Initiate Blackthorn protocol before midnight.
Rachel looked at Daniel.
"What exactly is Blackthorn protocol?"
Margaret whispered.
"I don't know."
Daniel checked the time.
May you like
2:47 p.m.
Less than ten hours until midnight.
