Chapter 3
Arthur took the envelope.
His hands were steady.
His eyes were not.
Arthur: Changed how?
Daniel glanced at Clara.
Then at the hundreds of guests.
Daniel: We should do this somewhere private.
Arthur: Privacy disappeared the moment someone put something in my wine.
Victoria: Arthur, you're humiliating us.
Arthur looked at her.
Arthur: If I'm alive tomorrow, I'll survive humiliation.
Victoria flinched.
Daniel opened the envelope himself.
Inside was a photocopy of a legal document.
He pointed at a page.
Daniel: Your original retirement trust transfers voting control of Vance Holdings tomorrow morning.
Arthur: Correct.
Daniel: The version I found says that if you die before the transfer is completed, control doesn't pass according to your current plan.
Arthur: Who receives it?
Daniel said nothing.
Arthur already knew.
His eyes moved toward Victoria.
Daniel: Mom.
Five hundred people seemed to inhale at once.
Victoria laughed.
It sounded forced.
Victoria: This is insane. Arthur has changed estate documents dozens of times.
Arthur: Not that clause.
Victoria: Maybe you forgot.
Arthur: I wrote that clause myself after Jonathan died.
Clara looked at him.
Arthur's voice hardened.
Arthur: No spouse was ever supposed to receive controlling interest.
Victoria: And now I'm being convicted because your son found a piece of paper?
Daniel: It was in your locked office.
Victoria: Which you broke into!
Daniel: Because you changed the code.
Victoria: Because you steal from me!
Daniel's face tightened.
Daniel: Don't do that.
Victoria: Do what?
Daniel: Turn this around.
Victoria stepped toward him.
Victoria: You have spent your entire life turning things around when they don't suit you.
Daniel: This isn't about me.
Victoria: Isn't it?
She looked at Arthur.
Victoria: Ask him why he was in my office.
Daniel: Mom.
Victoria: Ask him why he desperately needs money.
Daniel's eyes dropped.
Arthur's expression changed.
Arthur: Daniel?
Daniel: Not now.
Victoria almost smiled.
Victoria: Of course not now.
Arthur: What money?
Daniel rubbed both hands over his face.
Daniel: I made some bad investments.
Arthur: How bad?
Daniel: Dad—
Arthur: How bad?
Daniel: Eleven million.
Arthur stared at him.
Victoria: Fourteen.
Daniel turned furiously.
Daniel: You said you wouldn't—
Victoria: Fourteen million dollars.
Arthur's face went cold.
Daniel: I was fixing it.
Arthur: With whose money?
Daniel didn't answer.
Arthur: Daniel.
Daniel: Mine.
Victoria: The company's.
Arthur closed his eyes.
Daniel: I borrowed against shares.
Victoria: Shares you weren't authorized to pledge.
Daniel: You helped me!
Victoria's expression changed instantly.
Daniel realized what he had said.
Arthur looked between them.
Arthur: She helped you?
Daniel: I—
Victoria: He's lying.
Daniel: You introduced me to Beckett.
Victoria: I introduced you to a banker. I didn't tell you to commit fraud.
Arthur took one step toward his son.
Arthur: Who is Beckett?
Daniel: Richard Beckett.
Clara knew the name.
Clara: The foundation treasurer.
Everyone looked at her.
Daniel stared.
Clara: His signature was on the catering payment that covered the envelope given to the supervisor.
Arthur's head turned.
Detective: You have proof of that?
Clara handed over her phone.
Clara: Screenshot from the internal payment system. I photographed it when the supervisor showed me where my cash bonus came from.
Victoria: You accessed private financial records?
Clara: He left them open.
Victoria: How convenient.
Detective: Mrs. Vance, you may want to stop talking for a moment.
Victoria glared at him.
Arthur turned toward his security chief.
Arthur: Find Beckett.
Mason spoke into his radio.
Mason: Richard Beckett was here thirty minutes ago.
Arthur: Was?
Mason listened to his earpiece.
His face changed.
Mason: He left.
Arthur: When?
Mason: Approximately twelve minutes before Clara stopped you from drinking.
Clara stared at Victoria.
Victoria looked away.
Detective: Seal the exits. Get me security footage.
Mason nodded.
Dr. Harris stood near the decanter.
Dr. Harris: Arthur, I'd also like you checked medically.
Arthur: I didn't drink it.
Dr. Harris: Did you eat or drink anything your wife personally gave you today?
Arthur looked at Victoria.
A new silence filled the room.
Arthur: Coffee.
Victoria: Oh, for God's sake.
Arthur: At home.
Dr. Harris: When?
Arthur: Seven this morning.
Dr. Harris: Any symptoms?
Arthur thought.
Arthur: Lightheadedness.
Victoria laughed.
Victoria: He's seventy-two years old and stood through a two-hour reception.
Arthur ignored her.
Dr. Harris: Nausea?
Arthur: A little.
Dr. Harris's expression grew serious.
Dr. Harris: Sit down.
Arthur: I'm fine.
Dr. Harris: Arthur, sit down.
The authority in his voice finally cut through Arthur's anger.
Arthur sat.
Clara watched him closely.
His skin had become pale.
Arthur looked at his hands.
They were trembling.
Arthur: That's new.
Victoria backed away.
Clara saw it.
Clara: Don't let her leave.
Victoria: Excuse me?
Clara: She's moving toward the door.
Victoria: I need air!
Detective: Stay where you are, please.
Victoria: Am I under arrest?
Detective: Not yet.
Victoria crossed her arms.
Dr. Harris checked Arthur's pulse.
Dr. Harris: We need an ambulance.
Arthur: Harris—
Dr. Harris: Now.
Mason called immediately.
Clara crouched beside Arthur.
Arthur looked at her.
For the first time, he did not look at her like an employee.
He looked at her face.
Really looked.
Arthur: How old are you?
Clara: Twenty-three.
Arthur swallowed.
Arthur: Jonathan died twenty-four years ago.
Clara: My mother was pregnant when he died.
Arthur stared at her eyes.
Jonathan's eyes.
He had spent two decades trying not to remember them.
Arthur: Why didn't she tell me?
Clara's expression hardened.
Clara: She tried.
Arthur: No.
Clara: Three letters.
Arthur: I never got them.
Clara: She came to your office.
Arthur: Nobody told me.
Clara slowly looked toward Victoria.
Victoria's face became rigid.
Clara: Someone met her downstairs.
Arthur followed her gaze.
Victoria: Don't.
Clara: Someone told my mother you blamed her for Jonathan's death.
Arthur: What?
Clara: Someone said you never wanted to see her or her child.
Arthur stared at his wife.
Victoria: Arthur, you were grieving. You were barely functioning.
Arthur: Did Elena come to the office?
Victoria: I don't remember.
Clara: She remembers you.
Victoria: She is lying.
Clara: My mother described the blue silk dress you wore to Jonathan's funeral.
Victoria went completely still.
Arthur noticed.
Clara: She said you were wearing it when you met her in the lobby two weeks later.
Victoria: Lots of people knew what I wore.
Clara: You told her if she contacted Arthur again, you would accuse her of stealing from Jonathan.
Arthur slowly stood despite Dr. Harris trying to stop him.
Arthur: Did you?
Victoria: Arthur—
Arthur: DID YOU?
Victoria stared at him.
The entire room waited.
Finally, she whispered.
Victoria: I was protecting you.
Arthur stepped backward as if she had hit him.
Arthur: From my granddaughter?
Victoria: We didn't know she was yours!
Clara: My mother showed you the ultrasound.
Victoria: Jonathan was reckless!
Arthur: Answer her!
Victoria's voice rose.
Victoria: Fine! She showed me an ultrasound!
Clara's eyes filled.
Arthur's face crumpled.
Victoria kept speaking, faster now.
Victoria: Jonathan had women everywhere. He was unstable. He was drinking. He was fighting with you. How was I supposed to know Elena wasn't another woman looking for money?
Clara: My mother never asked for money.
Victoria: She accepted thirty thousand dollars.
Clara: After you threatened her.
Victoria: She took it!
Clara: Because she was nineteen and pregnant and terrified!
Arthur looked sick.
Clara: She used it to move across the country because you told her Arthur would destroy her life if she stayed.
Victoria turned to Arthur.
Victoria: I thought I was helping.
Arthur: For twenty-three years?
Victoria: I made a mistake.
Clara: A mistake?
Victoria looked at her.
Clara: You stole my grandfather from me.
The word grandfather broke something in Arthur.
He sat again.
Daniel looked at Clara differently now.
Daniel: If you're Jonathan's daughter...
Clara turned toward him.
Daniel's voice became quiet.
Daniel: You're my niece.
Clara said nothing.
Victoria suddenly looked between Daniel and Clara.
Something clicked behind her eyes.
Victoria: That's why.
Arthur: Why what?
Victoria pointed at Clara.
Victoria: That's why this is happening today.
Clara: What are you talking about?
Victoria: The trust.
Daniel's face changed.
Arthur: What about it?
Victoria: Your retirement trust names descendants by bloodline.
Arthur stared.
Victoria continued.
Victoria: If she is really Jonathan's daughter, she has a claim.
Daniel: Mom.
Victoria: She has a claim to Jonathan's share.
Clara shook her head.
Clara: I don't want your money.
Victoria: Of course you do.
Clara: I wanted to know why my father died.
Arthur went still.
Daniel looked confused.
Daniel: Jonathan died in a car accident.
Clara: That's what everyone says.
Arthur: It was raining. His car left the road.
Clara: My mother never believed it.
Victoria: This is getting absurd.
Clara reached into her apron again.
This time she removed an old folded photograph.
The picture showed Jonathan beside a dark sports car.
He was smiling.
On the back, someone had written a date.
Two days before his death.
Clara: My father called my mother the night before the crash.
Arthur stared at the photograph.
Clara: He told her he'd discovered someone stealing from Vance Holdings.
Victoria's eyes flicked toward Daniel.
Daniel noticed.
Clara: He said he had proof.
Arthur: Proof of what?
Clara: He didn't say.
Victoria: Because none of this happened.
Clara: He told my mother that if anything happened to him, she should find a man named Richard.
The ballroom fell silent.
Arthur whispered.
Arthur: Richard Beckett?
Clara nodded.
Daniel cursed under his breath.
Arthur looked toward Mason.
Arthur: Find Beckett now.
Mason spoke into his radio again.
Then he suddenly pressed two fingers to his earpiece.
Mason: Sir.
Arthur: What?
Mason's expression was grim.
Mason: We found his car.
Arthur: Where?
Mason: Underground garage.
Arthur: So he's still here.
Mason hesitated.
Mason: Maybe.
Arthur: What does that mean?
May you like
Mason looked toward the detective.
Mason: There's blood on the driver's seat.
