Chapter 11 - What Victor Told Me Through the Glass
Victor looked older.
Prison gray didn't suit him.
Neither did helplessness.
We sat separated by reinforced glass.
He lifted the phone.
I lifted mine.
“You look well.”
“You look arrested.”
His mouth twitched.
There was the Victor I remembered.
“You always did get your mother's mouth.”
“Why am I here?”
“Because you want answers.”
“I have answers.”
“No. You have evidence.”
“That's usually better.”
His smile disappeared.
Then he said:
“Your mother could have saved herself.”
I gripped the phone.
“What does that mean?”
“She knew Jonathan was the original target.”
“You're lying.”
“She confronted me.”
“When?”
“Two days before.”
Victor leaned closer.
“I offered her a choice.”
My stomach turned.
“What choice?”
“Convince your father to drop the investigation and everyone walks away.”
“And she refused.”
“She laughed at me.”
That sounded like Mom.
Victor's eyes hardened.
“She said she'd rather lose everything than let you inherit a company built on theft.”
I swallowed.
“You murdered her for refusing you.”
“I didn't pull a trigger.”
“No. You just bought the hand that did.”
Victor looked away.
For the first time, shame—or something resembling it—crossed his face.
Then he whispered:
“I loved your father.”
I almost dropped the phone.
“You don't get to call that love.”
“We built everything together.”
“You destroyed him.”
“He was going to destroy me.”
“He was going to expose you.”
Victor's fist tightened.
“Same thing.”
There it was.
The entire tragedy in two words.
To Victor, accountability was destruction.
Consequences were betrayal.
People existed only while they were useful.
I stood.
“Goodbye, Victor.”
“Claire.”
I stopped.
“There is one account they haven't found.”
I turned.
“Why tell me?”
“Because Marcus knows about it.”
“So?”
“And Marcus made a deal.”
My pulse quickened.
“What deal?”
Victor smiled faintly.
“To give them someone bigger than himself.”
Richard Caldwell.
Victor slid a number against the glass.
An offshore account.
Investigators traced it.
Money had indeed moved from Victor's network through an entity associated with Caldwell's investment operation, but the ownership and authorization chain required further investigation.
Then federal prosecutors found emails.
Not ambiguous language.
Not implications.
Direct instructions regarding fraudulent contracts and concealment.
The case widened again.
And I realized something terrifying.
My parents hadn't discovered one corrupt business partner.
May you like
They had stumbled into a network.
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