Chapter 6 - The Family Started Choosing Sides
Claire left Daniel’s office before he could stop her.
Not dramatically.
She picked up her purse, told Meredith she would speak through counsel if necessary, and walked out through the production floor while eighteen employees pretended not to notice.
Daniel watched from behind the glass.
His sister had worked beside him for fourteen years.
Their father had trusted Claire with money and Daniel with people.
Until that morning, Daniel had considered the arrangement balanced.
Now it looked like a system built around what each sibling preferred not to know.
At home, Lily sat at the kitchen island drawing their house with blue marker.
The storage-room wall was black.
Daniel placed a grilled-cheese sandwich beside her.
“Are you mad at Vanessa?” Lily asked.
“Yes.”
“Forever?”
“I don’t know.”
Lily considered that.
“She said Aunt Claire was trying to ruin us.”
Daniel sat across from her.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
Before the storage room.
Daniel kept his voice even.
“What exactly did she say?”
Lily colored one window yellow.
“She said Aunt Claire wanted to make us lose the house.”
“Did she say why?”
Lily shook her head.
“She told me not to go in the storage room.”
Another clue.
Daniel had assumed Vanessa was hiding the door because Claire was trapped behind it.
But Lily had been forbidden from the room before Claire arrived.
That night Daniel slept in the guest room, though Vanessa wasn’t there.
Her absence still felt like a presence.
He removed their wedding photograph from the nightstand and placed it facedown in a drawer.
The next morning Claire texted.
I’m resigning as co-trustee.
He called immediately.
She didn’t answer.
Another message arrived.
You need someone independent.
Daniel typed, We need to talk.
Claire replied:
Not until I have records.
It sounded responsible.
It also sounded like fear.
Meanwhile Vanessa’s brother, Thomas, called Daniel twice.
Daniel ignored the first call.
He answered the second.
“I’m not discussing Vanessa.”
Thomas said, “Then discuss my company.”
Daniel stood at the back windows.
“I’m listening.”
“My sister asked if money could pass through Lakefront temporarily because her bank account was frozen after fraud alerts. She said it was hers.”
“You didn’t ask why fifty-eight thousand dollars was coming from Carter Millwork?”
“She told me you were helping Judith.”
Daniel felt something cold settle in his chest.
“When?”
“March.”
The date of the first missing $58,000 transfer.
Thomas continued.
“She used my account twice after that. Smaller amounts.”
Daniel looked at Meredith’s spreadsheet.
Those smaller amounts matched two transfers Claire had attributed solely to Vanessa.
“What did you think?”
“I thought her husband was helping his mother-in-law.”
“Did she ever mention Lily?”
“No.”
Thomas’s voice hardened.
“And before you decide I’m covering for her, I sent every bank statement to your lawyer this morning.”
That surprised Daniel.
“So why call me?”
“Because Vanessa called me last night asking if I’d delete old emails.”
Daniel straightened.
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I have a daughter too.”
After the call, Daniel forwarded the information to Meredith.
Then Claire finally called.
Her voice sounded stripped down.
“Thomas sent the statements?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Daniel waited.
“Claire, what records are you looking for?”
She hesitated.
“Old payroll files.”
“Why?”
“Because Vanessa isn’t lying about everything.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Which part?”
“The part where she learned the system from me.”
He heard a drawer open on Claire’s end.
Then paper sliding.
“I found something Dad left behind.”
Their father had been dead three years.
Daniel gripped the phone.
“What?”
May you like
“A reconciliation from the year before he died.”
Claire’s voice cracked.
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