Chapter 5: The Box Beneath the Workbench
Dad unlocked his front door without answering me.
Claire followed us inside, but Vivian’s car stopped at the curb before we could close the door.
She entered without being invited.
“You have until nine tomorrow morning,” Vivian said.
I stood in her path.
“Get out.”
“This concerns Daniel.”
“It concerns my family.”
Vivian held up a bank notice.
“The house secured a company loan eighteen years ago.
The balance is due if Daniel disputes the transfer.”
Dad took the notice.
“Edmund told me that loan had been cleared.”
“Then Edmund lied.”
Claire stepped between them.
“You used Grandfather’s company to put a claim on this house?”
“I protected the business.”
“You threatened the home of a widower at his son’s wedding.”
Vivian lowered her voice.
“Come with me, Claire.
If you stay, I will remove you from the family trust.”
Claire removed her diamond earrings and placed them in her mother’s hand.
“Then take these too.”
Vivian stared at them.
“You will regret choosing a man who abandoned you at the altar.”
“He didn’t abandon me.
I failed him.”
I looked away, but Claire caught my sleeve.
“Please look at me.”
“What do you want me to say?”
“Say there is something left to save.”
“You laughed at my father.”
“And I will hear that sound every time I remember today.”
My voice rose.
“Was I supposed to marry you and wait for the next time your mother decided my family was beneath hers?”
Claire stepped back as if I had pushed her.
“No.”
“Did you ever respect him?”
“I thought he was quiet and ordinary.”
“He is quiet and ordinary.”
“I know,” she said.
“That should have been enough.”
My knees touched the edge of a chair.
Dad put one hand on my shoulder, but it was Claire’s next sentence that nearly broke me.
“You loved a version of me that behaved better than I did.”
I covered my face.
“I don’t know who you are.”
She knelt in front of me.
“Then don’t marry me.
Not now.
Just let me help make this right.”
Vivian laughed.
“How touching.”
Dad turned toward her.
“Leave my son alone.”
“I am offering you a solution.
Sign away the claim, and the house remains yours.”
“And Claire keeps her trust?” Dad asked.
“Yes.”
Claire stood.
“Do not use me as payment.”
Dad walked into the garage and switched on the light.
We followed him to an old workbench.
“Edmund gave me something before he passed,” he said.
“I never opened it because he asked me to wait until the company came for my home.”
Vivian’s confidence flickered.
Dad reached beneath the workbench and removed a metal cash box.
Graham suddenly appeared behind Vivian.
“You called him?” I asked.
“I brought legal protection,” she replied.
Graham lunged for the box.
Anna, who had followed in her own car, shoved the garage door closed between us and him.
“Not tonight.”
Dad unlocked the box.
Inside were a small ledger, a sealed letter, and an old digital recorder.
Vivian reached for the letter, but Claire blocked her.
“You’ve taken enough.”
Peter examined the ledger.
“These are the original share entries.”
Graham called through the garage window.
“Those records were superseded.”
“Then why are you trying to grab them?” I asked.
Dad opened Edmund’s letter and read the first paragraph aloud.
“‘Daniel, if Vivian presents a transfer bearing your name, compare its date with the witness signature.’”
Peter took the false transfer from his folder and held both pages together.
Claire leaned over his shoulder.
“The witness is my father.”
“Yes,” Peter said.
Claire touched the date.
“That’s impossible.”
Vivian moved toward the door.
I blocked it.
“Why?”
Claire’s voice shook.
“Because my father had been in a care facility for six months.
He could no longer write his name.”
May you like
Peter turned to Vivian.
“And according to this date, he signed it two days after he was gone.”
