Chapter 7: A Fatal Incongruity
The decision was not based on the affair.
It was based on the unauthorized use of his security badge.
Daniel called it a misunderstanding.
Vanessa claimed Daniel had asked her to retrieve a misplaced file.
The hospital’s legal department asked which file.
Neither of them answered.
I returned home after meeting with the auditors.
Ethan was waiting in the kitchen.
He looked as though he had not slept.
“Dad texted me.”
“What did he say?”
“He wants me to bring him his laptop.”
“Where is it?”
“In my room.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“He gave it to me at the airport.”
Ethan placed a black laptop bag on the table.
“He said he didn’t want to carry it through security.”
Daniel had handed away the one object most likely to expose him.
He probably planned to retrieve it after the flight.
When the trip collapsed, he forgot Ethan still had it.
Helen arrived before we opened the bag.
Inside were the laptop, two flash drives, a hospital access card, and a small notebook.
The laptop required a password.
Ethan entered one immediately.
I stared at him.
“How did you know?”
“It’s Mom’s birthday.”
Melissa’s birthday.
Daniel had used the date of his first wife’s death to protect evidence of betraying his second.
The desktop contained almost nothing.
The files had been deleted.
Marcus examined the drive and said recovery would take time.
The notebook was more useful.
Daniel had written account numbers, transfer dates, and initials.
R.B.
R.B. appeared beside the largest transaction.
Eight hundred thousand dollars.
I assumed the initials represented me.
Marcus disagreed.
“The receiving bank lists an account owner.”
He turned the screen.
“Richard Bennett.”
Daniel’s father was the destination.
The money was supposed to move into Richard’s account before being divided among the others.
Lauren would receive one hundred thousand dollars.
Vanessa would receive two hundred thousand.
Daniel would control the rest through his company.
“They were paying her,” I said.
Marcus nodded.
“It appears so.”
Vanessa was not only Daniel’s mistress.
She was part of the financial scheme.
Ethan sat motionless.
“My grandfather knew everything.”
I closed the notebook.
“Yes.”
“He told me you were trying to take Dad’s hospital away.”
“When?”
“Last month.”
Richard had begun preparing the children before the transfer.
He wanted them to view me as an enemy if I discovered the fraud.
Ethan opened his messages.
“Dad said I have to choose.”
My chest tightened.
“What exactly did he say?”
Ethan handed me the phone.
Daniel’s message read:
Bring me the computer.
Do not let Rachel poison you against your real family.
If you help her, do not expect me to pay for college.
I read it twice.
Daniel knew Ethan had dreamed of attending Northwestern University.
He had promised for years that tuition would be covered.
Now he was using that dream as leverage.
I photographed the message.
“You do not have to choose between college and the truth.”
Ethan looked at me.
“Dad controls the education account.”
“No.”
I opened a drawer and removed a blue folder.
“I do.”
Years earlier, I had created separate education trusts for both children.
Daniel had insisted he should manage them.
I refused.
He never forgave me.
Ethan looked at the balance.
His eyes widened.
“This is enough?”
“For tuition, housing, books, and graduate school.”
“Dad said he saved it.”
“Your father contributed during the first year.”
“How much?”
“Four thousand dollars.”
Ethan leaned back slowly.
The story of his father was collapsing piece by piece.
His phone rang.
Daniel.
Ethan looked at me.
I did not tell him whether to answer.
He made the decision himself.
He placed the phone on speaker.
“Where is my computer?” Daniel demanded.
“With me.”
“Bring it to the hotel.”
“No.”
A pause followed.
Then Daniel’s voice softened.
“Son, Rachel is trying to destroy our family.”
Ethan looked at the folders spread across the table.
“You did that at Gate 42.”
He ended the call.
Seconds later, the laptop screen flickered.
A remote deletion program had activated.
Marcus pulled the power cable.
The screen went black.
May you like
Daniel was trying to erase everything.
He did not know Marcus had already copied the drive.
