Chapter 7: The Man Who Owned Nothing
Victor stared at Naomi’s phone.
“Rose is confused from surgery.”
Her voice sharpened through the speaker.
“I was awake when you brought those papers to Adrian.”
“You and Adrian planned the insurance claim together.”
“No,” Rose said.
“You forged his signature and named your own company as beneficiary.”
Victor looked around the room.
“You are all prepared to believe a bitter woman because she produced four children at Christmas.”
Noah stepped beside Eleanor.
“She produced us because she loved us.”
“Stay out of adult matters.”
Eleanor’s arm went around Noah.
“He is a beneficiary of the trust you raided.
He may stand wherever he chooses.”
A knock sounded at the front entrance.
Victor laughed once.
“That will be the court officer.
I warned you, Eleanor.”
Miriam opened the study door.
Two uniformed officers entered with a woman carrying a leather case.
Victor’s shoulders relaxed.
“Ms.
Price, explain to them that I hold financial authority over Eleanor Harcourt.”
The woman did not approach him.
“My name is Dana Price.
I investigate financial fraud for the Crownbridge Bank.”
Victor’s face changed.
Miriam handed her the account page.
“Is V.H.
Holdings registered to him?”
Dana opened her case.
“It is registered through three shell companies.
All three lead to Victor Harcourt.”
“That proves nothing improper.”
Dana placed copies of bank transfers on the desk.
“Thirty-one transfers from the Harcourt children’s fund.
The total is four million, eight hundred thousand dollars.”
Julian gripped the desk.
“That fund paid for schools and medical care.”
“It also paid Victor’s apartment in Geneva,” Dana said.
Victor moved toward the window.
One officer stepped into his path.
“Mr.
Harcourt, remain in the room.”
“You have no right to detain me.”
The second officer displayed a warrant.
“We have authority regarding fraud, coercion and attempted destruction of evidence.”
Victor pointed at Rose’s image.
“She manipulated all of you.
She vanished after stealing confidential files.”
Rose lifted a folder from beside her hospital pillow.
“These files?”
Victor stopped speaking.
“My attorney kept copies,” she continued.
“They show you added V.H.
Holdings to Adrian’s policy two weeks before the accident.”
Dana looked toward the officers.
“The insurer has also submitted its original records.”
Victor turned to Eleanor.
“After everything I did for you, will you let them humiliate me in front of servants and children?”
Eleanor approached him.
“You sat beside me at Richard’s funeral.
You watched me mourn Rose while knowing exactly where she was.”
“I kept this family alive.”
“You fed on it.”
An officer took Victor’s phone and secured his wrists.
He pulled away.
“Eleanor, if Rose comes back, she will tear this family apart.
You will beg for the order I gave you.”
Rose’s voice came calmly from the phone.
“The order you gave us was silence.”
Victor was led toward the entrance.
At the doorway, he looked back at the boys.
“You think this house makes you Harcourts?
You own nothing.”
Noah met his eyes.
“We own the truth.”
The front door closed behind Victor.
Eleanor reached for the phone.
“Rose, come home as soon as your doctors allow it.”
Rose was silent for several seconds.
“I will come,” she said.
“But before I walk through that door, you need to hear something.”
May you like
“What is it?”
“Victor was not the only person who made me leave.”
