Chapter 6: The Second Phone
Daniel stared at the frozen image.
“I never signed joint account forms.”
Claire stood beneath the screen in her wedding dress.
“You signed dozens of papers this month.”
“I signed vendor approvals.”
“You never read anything.”
His father unplugged the microphone.
“That sounds less like a defense than a confession.”
Claire turned on him.
“Stay out of my marriage.”
Daniel stepped between them.
“You made my family part of it.”
Nina pointed toward the gift table.
“I saw Marcus hide something underneath after he returned.”
Owen moved first.
He knelt, pushed aside the white tablecloth, and reached beneath the wooden frame.
His hand came back holding a black phone.
Claire’s mother grabbed her coat.
“We are leaving.”
“No,” Claire said.
Her mother stopped.
Claire’s eyes stayed on the phone.
“Nobody leaves until I have that.”
Owen passed it to Daniel.
The screen lit up with an incoming call.
MARCUS.
Daniel answered and pressed the speaker button.
“Claire?” Marcus said.
“Arthur followed your mother-in-law back.
Did she reach the reception?”
Daniel looked at Claire.
“She did.”
Silence answered him.
Then Marcus said, “Where’s Claire?”
“Standing in front of me.”
“Daniel, this isn’t what you think.”
“What do I think?”
Marcus breathed into the phone.
“Claire said the transfers were temporary.”
“What transfers?”
Claire lunged for the device.
Daniel pulled it away, but her hand caught the edge.
The phone struck the floor and slid beneath a table.
Owen retrieved it.
“It’s still connected.”
“Marcus,” Daniel said, “where is the money?”
Claire snatched a champagne glass and poured it over the phone.
Guests jumped back.
The screen went black.
“There,” Claire said.
“Now this circus ends.”
Owen raised his camera.
“The call was recording to my audio receiver.”
Claire’s face emptied.
“You had no permission,” she whispered.
“You were standing beside a live microphone,” Owen replied.
Daniel’s mother stepped in front of Claire.
“Why wasn’t ninety-six thousand enough?”
Claire looked past her.
“I don’t owe you an explanation.”
“You sent me my son’s words from his phone.”
“You were smothering him.”
“You took my phone and locked me behind a gate.”
“You climbed out.”
Daniel’s mother moved closer.
“You thought the mud would make me look unstable, didn’t you?”
Claire said nothing.
“You thought Daniel would see my dress before he saw my face.”
“Enough,” Claire snapped.
“You controlled him for years.
Every holiday, every decision, every house he considered buying—you had an opinion.”
“I had an opinion.
You had a plan.”
Claire turned to Daniel.
“Give me one hour.
I will return every dollar.”
“With what money?”
“I can call Marcus.”
“He just admitted there were transfers.”
“I will blame him.
He ran Everbright.
He arranged the cottage.
I can make this disappear.”
Daniel removed his wedding ring.
Claire watched him place it on the table.
“If you walk away from me,” she said, “I will expose your father.”
Daniel’s hand stopped.
His father approached.
“Expose what?”
“The forty thousand dollars you took from the family company.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Dad?”
His father nodded.
“I borrowed it for your mother’s treatment two years ago.
I repaid every dollar.”
Claire smiled.
“Not before I copied the original ledger.”
Arthur opened the suitcase and removed a thick binder.
“You mean this ledger?” he asked.
Claire’s smile disappeared.
“Your brother left it at the cottage,” Arthur said.
“He told me to burn the papers if anyone came asking questions.”
Daniel opened the binder.
Behind the repaid loan were transfer records bearing his signature.
“They look real,” Claire said.
A woman near the back of the ballroom stood up.
“No,” she said.
“They don’t.”
Claire’s head turned.
The woman held up a notary stamp.
May you like
“I notarized those forms,” she said.
“And Daniel was never in the room.”
