Chapter 6: The Voice Behind the Door
Daniel lunged for Sophie’s phone, but I reached it first.
“Give it to me,” he said.
“No.”
“Emma, she has always resented me.”
Sophie wiped her cheek.
“I resented how Mother protected you.
I never imagined what she was protecting.”
Vivian moved toward her daughter.
“You misunderstood a private conversation.”
“I heard Daniel say, ‘Once Emma is accused, Robert will trade the property to keep her name clean.’ What did I misunderstand?”
Daniel held out his hand.
“Sophie, delete it.
I’ll buy out your share of the family trust.”
“You emptied the trust last year.”
“That’s not true.”
Sophie unlocked the phone.
“Then explain this.”
Daniel’s recorded voice filled the ballroom.
“Put the brooch inside the lining.
If it falls out too easily, she’ll say someone planted it.”
Vivian’s voice followed.
“And the security footage?”
“Already handled.
By midnight, Robert will sign Bellweather House back to us.”
The recording ended.
Daniel looked at me.
“Mother pressured me.”
Vivian turned on him.
“You designed the entire plan.”
“You said Emma’s money belonged to us.”
“It would have saved the hotel!”
I stepped between them.
“You knew the signature wasn’t mine.”
Daniel’s shoulders dropped.
“Yes.”
“You watched me question my own memory.”
“I needed you to stop fighting.”
“You could have asked me for help.”
“You would have told your father.”
“Because he would have stopped you.”
Daniel lowered his voice.
“I loved you, Emma.”
“No.
You loved how easily I trusted you.”
He flinched, then pointed at Dad.
“He bought our family home through a hidden company.
He waited three years to humiliate us.”
Dad remained seated beside the doctor.
“I waited three years because Emma begged me not to interfere in her marriage.”
I turned to him.
“You knew Daniel had used my name?”
“I suspected it after the bank called.
I bought the debt to keep them from taking your savings and the employees’ pensions.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You said Daniel was trying to save the business.
I wanted you to learn the truth from him.”
My voice broke.
“You let me sleep beside him for three years.”
Dad’s eyes filled.
“Yes.
And that was wrong.”
The room blurred.
Sophie put one arm around me before my knees gave way.
“I defended him to you,” I said to Dad.
“I know.”
“I called you controlling.”
“You were protecting your marriage.”
“No.
I was protecting a lie.”
Dad reached for me.
I knelt beside his chair, and he pressed his forehead to mine.
“I should have told you,” he whispered.
“Can you forgive me?”
“Not tonight.”
He nodded as tears rolled down his face.
“That is fair.”
Behind us, Vivian snatched Sophie’s phone and threw it beneath her heel.
The screen broke with a sharp crack.
“There,” Vivian said.
“Your little performance is over.”
Sophie stared at the pieces, then slowly raised her wrist.
A small red light blinked on her watch.
“It uploaded to my account as it recorded.”
Vivian’s smile vanished.
The ballroom doors opened again.
A tall man in a dark suit entered with two bank representatives.
Vivian rushed toward him.
“Mr.
Calder, tell them Robert’s purchase was invalid.”
The banker placed a document in her hand.
“For once,” she said, smiling again, “you’re too late, Robert.
The Graves board canceled the property transfer this afternoon.”
Ellis read the first page, and his face tightened.
May you like
Daniel slipped his phone into his pocket.
Then every light in the ballroom went out.
