Chapter 5 - Sixty Million Reasons
The Riverside hearing began at nine the next morning.
Daniel sat across the courtroom from me.
For twelve years, I had known every version of his face.
The charming one.
The exhausted one.
The ambitious one.
The guilty one.
That morning I met a new Daniel.
Cornered.
His attorneys argued that my injunction was unnecessary and commercially destructive.
David responded with the forged consent certification.
The judge looked over her glasses.
“Mr. Carter, did your wife sign this?”
Daniel’s attorney stood.
“Your Honor—”
“I asked Mr. Carter.”
Daniel looked at me.
“No.”
A murmur moved through the courtroom.
“Did you know she had not signed it?”
Another pause.
“Yes.”
My chest tightened.
There it was.
Not suspicion.
Not Vanessa’s accusation.
Daniel’s own voice.
The judge continued.
“And yet the certification was submitted?”
“Yes.”
The injunction remained.
Expedited discovery was granted.
Outside the courthouse, reporters surrounded us.
I said nothing.
Daniel caught up with me near the parking structure.
“Emily.”
David stepped between us.
“It’s okay,” I said.
Daniel looked exhausted.
“Vanessa forged the signature.”
“You knew it wasn’t mine.”
“I thought she had found another legal mechanism.”
“You just told a judge you knew I hadn’t signed it.”
“I knew after it was submitted.”
“Then why didn’t you withdraw it?”
His silence answered.
“Because you wanted the deal.”
“Yes.”
“Why is Riverside worth sixty million dollars more to the buyer than market value?”
Daniel’s face changed.
So Vanessa had told the truth about that.
“Who told you?”
“Answer me.”
He glanced at David.
“Not here.”
“Then nowhere.”
I walked away.
Daniel grabbed my arm.
David immediately stepped forward.
Daniel released me.
“Emily, listen to me. If you keep digging, people will get hurt.”
“Is that a threat?”
“No.”
His voice broke.
“It’s the reason I was trying to sell.”
That stopped me.
“What?”
Daniel looked around.
“My father left records.”
“Of the kickback network.”
His face went pale.
“You know.”
“I know Charles Voss may have been framed.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Then Vanessa told you.”
“My father did.”
That surprised him.
“Richard knew?”
“Apparently more than either of us.”
Daniel leaned against the concrete wall.
For a moment he looked twenty years older.
“I found the records eighteen months ago.”
“Where?”
“Behind a false wall in Riverside’s original management office.”
“What records?”
“Payments. Names. Politicians. Contractors. Judges. People who helped my father.”
My stomach turned.
“Why didn’t you go to the police?”
“I tried.”
“What happened?”
“The investigator I contacted died six days later.”
I stared at him.
“Michael Trent?”
Daniel looked confused.
“No. Robert Keller.”
Two dead men.
Different men.
Same secret.
“Who is buying Riverside?”
Daniel shook his head.
“I can’t tell you.”
“You can.”
“If I do, you become part of this.”
“I became part of it when Vanessa cut my hair.”
“No. That was Vanessa being insane.”
“Vanessa’s attorney died.”
“What?”
Daniel looked genuinely shocked.
I watched him carefully.
“Michael Trent. Hit-and-run.”
Daniel went still.
“When?”
“Three days ago.”
His phone vibrated.
He checked it.
Every trace of color left his face.
“What?”
He handed me the phone.
A photograph had arrived from an unknown number.
It showed me leaving the courthouse five minutes earlier.
Below it were six words.
May you like
CONTROL YOUR WIFE OR WE WILL.
For once, Daniel and I were afraid of exactly the same thing.
