Chapter 5: The Price of a Child
Daniel stared at the tablet.
“Play the rest.”
Elena reached for it.
“That recording was private.”
He caught her wrist and moved her hand away.
“You discussed my son.
Nothing about it is private.”
Sophie pressed play again.
Elena’s recorded voice filled the venue.
“Daniel will fight if he learns Claire never abandoned them.”
“He won’t learn,” Martha answered.
“The letters will be gone tonight.”
“And the custody agreement?”
“Once Claire appears to take the money, no judge will trust her.”
A chair scraped behind us.
One of Daniel’s uncles stood and walked out without looking at Martha.
Elena shook her head.
“You don’t know when that was recorded.”
“This morning,” Sophie said.
“The car clock announces the time before every message.”
“You’ve always been jealous of me.”
“I was your friend for eleven years,” Sophie replied.
“I’m the one who covered for you when you told Daniel you were visiting your sick aunt.”
Daniel looked at Elena.
“Where were you?”
“It has nothing to do with this.”
“Where were you?”
“With Martha’s financial adviser,” Sophie answered.
“They were opening Bellmere’s account.”
Martha pushed past June.
“Enough!
Daniel, your company depends on financing I arranged.
If you humiliate me here, the board will hear how unstable you’ve become.”
“You’re threatening me at my wedding?”
“I’m reminding you who protected your future.”
“You locked my child in a room.”
“He was supposed to stay there for one hour!”
Leo flinched.
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“You admit it?”
Martha looked around and realized every nearby phone was pointed at her.
“I was keeping him away from an adult ceremony.”
“You told me he was with a friend,” I said.
“Because you would have caused a scene.”
“You put him behind a locked door.”
“He had water, books, and a telephone.”
“The telephone cord was gone,” Leo whispered.
Daniel crouched beside him.
“Did she take it?”
Leo nodded.
“Grandma said I’d ruin everything if I called Mom.”
Daniel pulled Leo against his chest.
Leo resisted for one painful second, then wrapped both arms around his father’s neck.
“I’m sorry,” Daniel said.
“I should have come looking for you.”
Elena grabbed her bouquet from the table.
“Are you really going to throw away our life because a frightened child misunderstood one afternoon?”
Daniel stood.
“Our life?”
“You love me.”
“I loved the woman who said she wanted to help me rebuild my family.”
“I did help you.”
“You kept Leo from our wedding.”
“Your mother made that decision!”
Martha turned on her.
“Don’t put this on me.
You wanted Claire gone before the honeymoon.”
Elena’s bouquet fell to the floor.
My phone chimed.
At the same moment, Daniel pulled out his own phone and stared at the screen.
“What is it?” Rebecca asked.
Daniel turned the display toward her.
“A transfer alert.”
Rebecca read it aloud.
“Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars moved from Daniel’s business reserve to Bellmere Consulting.”
“I didn’t authorize that,” Daniel said.
Elena picked up her purse and ran for the side exit.
The doors opened before she reached them, and a uniformed security supervisor stepped inside.
“Ms.
Elena Ward?” he said.
“The bank’s fraud department would like you to remain on the premises.”
Martha’s fear vanished.
A small smile appeared instead.
May you like
“Let her go, Daniel,” she said.
“Unless you want your company closed by Monday morning.”
