Chapter 10 - The False Countdown
Daniel stared at Victor’s face on the screen.
“What did he do?”
Samuel stepped toward the terminal.
“The countdown was a diversion.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“No.”
“Victor needed one trustee to reject authorization.”
“He used Daniel’s refusal as consent?”
Samuel began entering commands.
“The system interpreted the expiration as an emergency transfer.”
Daniel’s voice became cold.
“You said allowing the timer to expire would release the records.”
“I believed it would.”
“You were wrong.”
“Yes.”
Olivia reached for Daniel.
“Don’t blame him now.”
Daniel looked at his wife.
“You could be giving birth underground while Victor steals everything.”
“The babies matter more.”
Victor’s voice came through the speakers.
“At least one person in that room still understands priorities.”
Daniel moved toward the screen.
“Victor!”
Victor smiled.
“There he is.”
“The grieving husband.”
“The loyal friend.”
“The man who inherited an empire because everyone around him kept dying.”
Daniel’s hands curled into fists.
“Open the house.”
“I don’t control the doors.”
“You just said you control the trust.”
“The trust is not the house.”
Samuel whispered,
“He is somewhere else.”
Daniel looked at the live image.
Victor appeared to be standing in the living room, but nothing behind him moved.
The blood near the broken window had disappeared.
The damaged furniture was in the wrong position.
“A prerecorded background,” Olivia said.
Victor heard her.
“Very good, Olivia.”
“You were always more intelligent than Daniel’s previous wife.”
Daniel struck the wall beside the screen.
“Do not speak about Claire.”
“Why?”
“She spoke about you constantly.”
Vanessa stepped forward.
“You killed her.”
Victor laughed.
“No.”
“You cut her brake line.”
“No.”
“You arranged the forged records.”
“Yes.”
The admission silenced everyone.
Victor continued calmly.
“Claire discovered irregular payments connected to Samuel’s legal accounts.”
Samuel stiffened.
“That is not true.”
“I forged those too.”
Victor smiled.
“I needed Claire to distrust everyone except me.”
Daniel’s stomach turned.
“You manipulated her.”
“I listened to her.”
“There is a difference.”
“She was pregnant.”
“Yes.”
“Was the child yours?”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
For the first time, he looked genuinely angry.
“That is none of your concern.”
Daniel understood.
“It wasn’t.”
Vanessa looked at him.
“What?”
Daniel turned toward Samuel.
“You said you saw a paternity report.”
“I did.”
“Who gave it to you?”
Samuel’s face changed.
“Victor.”
The pieces aligned.
Claire’s affair.
The pregnancy.
The paternity result.
All the information had come through Victor.
“You never verified it,” Daniel said.
Samuel lowered his eyes.
“No.”
Victor began clapping on the screen.
“Excellent.”
“Six years late, but excellent.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Claire was carrying my child.”
Victor did not answer.
His silence was confirmation enough.
Daniel’s face twisted with grief and rage.
“You made me believe she betrayed me.”
“You did not need much persuasion.”
Daniel lunged toward the screen as if he could reach Victor through it.
Olivia shouted his name.
He stopped.
Victor looked pleased.
“That anger is why Claire stopped trusting you.”
“What do you want?”
“The trust has already transferred its emergency authority to me.”
“You aren’t a trustee.”
“Not under the current documents.”
Samuel looked at the screen.
“What did you change?”
“I restored the original beneficiary sequence.”
Samuel froze.
“That sequence was revoked decades ago.”
“Not legally.”
Vanessa stepped closer.
“Who is the original beneficiary?”
Victor smiled again.
“Claire Bennett.”
Daniel stared at him.
“She’s dead.”
“Then the authority passes to her child.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
“Her unborn child died with her.”
Victor tilted his head.
“Did it?”
The medical suite became silent.
Olivia’s contraction ended.
Even the monitor seemed quieter.
Daniel whispered,
“What are you saying?”
Victor looked directly into the camera.
“Claire did not die pregnant.”
Samuel shook his head.
“The coroner’s report confirmed…”
“The coroner’s report confirmed whatever I paid him to confirm.”
Vanessa’s legs weakened.
She held the wall.
“Claire gave birth?”
Victor smiled.
“Not in the way you imagine.”
The screen flickered.
Before the connection ended, Victor spoke one final sentence.
“Ask Samuel who signed the infant transfer papers.”
The screen turned black.
Daniel slowly faced the attorney.
Samuel Price looked older than he had ten minutes earlier.
Olivia watched his hands begin to tremble.
“You signed them,” she said.
May you like
Samuel closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
