Chapter 10 - The Lawyer Who Owned the Secret.
Miles Arden had been Victor's attorney, his father's attorney, and Beatrice's most trusted fixer for nearly twenty years.
He had attended Victor's wedding.
He had stood beside him at Claire's funeral.
He had held Nino at his christening.
Victor felt physically ill.
"Claire and Miles?"
Elena shook her head slowly.
"The report does not explain how it happened."
Victor's anger filled the bank room.
"It explains enough."
Detective Ortiz was less certain.
"Do not assume an affair."
Victor laughed without humor.
"What other explanation is there?"
The flash drive answered him.
Back at the penthouse, they opened it on an isolated computer.
Claire appeared on screen, sitting in the nursery with swollen eyes.
"Victor, if you are watching this, I failed to tell you myself."
She swallowed hard.
"Nino was conceived through fertility treatment."
Victor stared.
He and Claire had undergone three failed rounds before she became pregnant.
Their clinic had told them Victor's sample had been successfully used.
Claire continued.
"I found out the clinic substituted donor material without our consent."
Victor's face lost all color.
"Miles arranged the clinic paperwork."
Claire looked directly into the camera.
"He was the donor."
Elena covered her mouth.
The video continued.
Claire had discovered the truth after Nino developed a rare allergy that did not match either parent.
She secretly ordered genetic testing.
When she confronted Miles, he claimed Beatrice had instructed him to ensure an heir existed because Victor's fertility results threatened the trust succession.
Miles insisted Claire had agreed.
Claire denied it.
"I never consented," she said on the video.
"And neither did you."
Victor slammed his fist against the desk.
Nino cried from the other room.
Victor immediately froze.
Elena looked at him.
This time he did not shout.
He walked into the nursery and sat on the floor several feet from his son.
"I am sorry," Victor said.
Nino peeked over Elena's shoulder.
"Daddy loud."
"Yes."
Victor forced himself to breathe.
"Daddy was loud."
The boy watched him.
"Not Nino fault?"
Victor's throat tightened.
"No."
He moved one hand toward Nino but stopped before touching him.
"Nothing is your fault."
Nino did not hug him.
But he did not move away either.
Victor returned to the study.
The final minute of Claire's video contained the detail that turned betrayal into a crime.
She had confronted Beatrice three days before her death.
Beatrice admitted arranging the fertility substitution.
Claire threatened to expose everything.
Beatrice responded with one sentence.
"You will not take my grandson away from this family."
Then Claire displayed a pharmacy bottle she had found in Beatrice's guest suite.
Digoxin.
Victor called the police.
Detective Ortiz was already moving.
Before she could obtain an arrest warrant, Victor's phone rang.
It was Miles.
His voice sounded exhausted.
"Victor, your mother did not kill Claire."
Victor gripped the phone.
"Where are you?"
"Somewhere she cannot reach me."
"You violated my wife and stole my child's identity."
Miles began to cry.
"I know."
Victor's voice turned deadly.
"Then tell me who killed her."
Miles whispered two words.
"I did."
Ortiz warned Victor not to contact Miles directly until she could secure his records.
Victor agreed and then spent the next ten minutes fighting the urge to break that promise.
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His entire adult life had taught him to confront threats immediately.
Parenthood, Elena was forcing him to learn, sometimes required remaining still long enough to understand what the threat actually was.
