Chapter 6: Richard Makes His Move
Grace Hale's voice was calm in a way that felt professional rather than cold.
Daniel listened without interrupting.
His face gave almost nothing away — a quality I had always found reassuring in him and now found slightly frightening.
"I understand," he said finally.
"Yes.
I can be there by nine tomorrow morning." He paused.
"My consultant's name is Ellen Marsh.
She has documentation going back — " He stopped.
"You already know her?"
A pause.
"All right," he said.
"Then you know the documentation is solid." Another pause.
"I'll be there."
He handed the phone back to me.
"Grace has been coordinating with Ellen for the past three weeks," he said.
"They didn't tell either of us because they needed our reactions tonight to be genuine."
"Were they?"
"Mine was." He looked at me steadily.
"Were yours?"
"I didn't know anything until the restroom."
He nodded.
"Grace wants to meet with both of us tomorrow morning.
With your mother." He paused.
"She says there's one more piece of the case that requires a decision from me."
"What decision?"
"She wouldn't say on the phone."
We went back inside.
My mom was standing now, her coat over her arm, her purse in her hand.
She looked at Daniel when we came through the door.
He looked at her for a moment.
"Thank you," he said.
"For protecting her."
My mom studied him the way she studied everything — quietly, completely.
"Don't thank me yet," she said.
"Thank me when this is finished."
---
We were home by ten.
Daniel stayed.
We sat at my kitchen table with tea neither of us drank, and he told me everything he'd been carrying for eight months.
The first sign had been a phone call from an old university friend whose father had invested with Richard's firm.
The returns had stopped.
The friend wanted to know if Daniel knew anything.
Daniel had said he didn't — because he didn't, not then.
But he'd started paying attention.
The asset transfer request in the spring had been the second sign.
Richard had presented it casually, over lunch, as if Daniel were being asked to sign a birthday card.
Daniel had taken the documents home, read them three times, and called Ellen Marsh the next day.
"Why didn't you go to your mother?" I said.
"Because my mother has known about my father's business for years.
She's not a victim of it." He wrapped both hands around his mug.
"She's a beneficiary of it."
I thought about Vivienne's face when she saw the paper.
Not shock.
Something older.
"She knew what he was doing."
"I believe so.
Yes."
"And she still sat there and made comments about my mother's dress."
He looked down at the table.
"I know."
"Daniel — "
"I know," he said again.
Quietly.
Like it cost him something.
---
Richard called at eleven-fifteen.
Daniel looked at the screen, then at me.
He answered it on speaker.
"Daniel." Richard's voice was measured.
Controlled.
"I think we need to talk before this gets out of hand."
"I agree," Daniel said.
"I'm free tomorrow morning."
"Tonight would be better."
"Tonight doesn't work for me."
A pause.
"Son, you don't understand the full picture."
"Then explain it to me tomorrow."
"There are people involved in this who are not acting in good faith.
That woman your fiancée's mother brought tonight — "
"Her name is Carol," Daniel said.
"She's going to be my mother-in-law."
Silence on the line.
"The people feeding her information have an agenda," Richard continued.
"This isn't about justice.
This is about a competitor trying to use my own family to dismantle what I've built."
"Then you'll have a chance to explain that tomorrow."
"Daniel." The controlled voice slipped, just slightly.
"I am asking you, as your father, to come and talk to me tonight.
Before you do something you can't undo."
Daniel looked at me across the table.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Dad."
He ended the call.
The kitchen was very quiet.
"He's scared," I said.
"Yes."
"What does he do when he's scared?"
Daniel set the phone face-down on the table.
"He fixes things," he said.
May you like
"He's very good at fixing things."
He didn't say it like it was a comfort.
