Chapter 7: Victor Doesn't Answer
Victor's phone went to voicemail at 8:14 a.m.
At 8:31, Sophie's contact at the financial crimes unit confirmed that a travel alert had been placed on his passport the previous evening — a precautionary measure Sophie had requested the moment she saw the transfer documents.
At 8:47, Victor's phone went to voicemail again.
At 9:02, Daniel received a text from an unknown number.
Four words: *We should talk privately.*
He showed it to Sophie without a word.
"Don't respond yet," she said.
"Let him come to you."
At 9:15, Victor rang the front doorbell.
He was dressed as though for a business meeting — jacket, no tie, the studied casualness of a man who wanted to appear unconcerned.
He smiled when Daniel opened the door, the same smile he had used in boardrooms for fifteen years.
"I think there's been a misunderstanding," Victor said.
"Come in," Daniel said.
They sat in the front room.
Sophie remained at the dining table, visible through the open doorway.
Victor's eyes moved to her once and then stayed carefully away.
"The drive," Victor said.
"I can explain what's on it."
"Go ahead."
"The footage from your father's study — I was retrieving documents your father had asked me to secure before he passed.
He didn't want them going through the formal estate process.
Personal correspondence.
Some of it sensitive."
"And the transfer agreement?"
Victor's expression didn't shift.
"A legitimate restructuring of the secondary holdings.
Your signature was obtained during the estate transition period.
You may not recall every document you signed during that time.
There were dozens."
"I would remember authorizing a transfer of forty percent of the secondary holdings."
"Memory is imperfect under grief."
Daniel looked at him for a long moment.
"Victor.
I've known you since I was nine years old."
"Which is why I'm here.
To clear this up between us, privately, before—"
"Before I file the report?"
Victor paused.
Just for a second.
"There's no need for this to become a legal matter.
Whatever Evelyn told you about her intentions — she's an old woman who panicked.
She made poor decisions.
But she didn't benefit from the transfers.
I can show you the full accounting.
Everything can be returned.
Quietly."
"You want to return the money."
"I want to resolve this without destroying a fifteen-year relationship and dragging the Carter name through a financial investigation." He leaned forward.
"Think about what that does to your business.
To your family's reputation.
To Clara, who just gave birth and doesn't need this stress."
"Don't say her name."
Victor stopped.
"Don't use my wife's name to negotiate your way out of what you did to her." Daniel's voice was level.
"You helped plan what happened in this house.
The document.
The pressure on Clara.
You came back early to make sure it was in place before I arrived.
You were going to hand that drive to my mother as leverage to keep her controlled while you finished moving the money."
"That's not—"
"The audio recording has your voice, Victor.
Clearly.
Directing the transfers.
Naming the account." Daniel stood.
"Sophie has already sent the files to the financial crimes unit.
The forensic analyst is arriving this afternoon for the signature comparison.
The hospital has confirmed they have no record of the guardianship document in their intake system, which means it was never a hospital form."
Victor stood as well.
The smile was gone now.
"You're making a mistake."
"Possibly.
But it's mine to make."
"I know things about your father's estate that you don't." The shift in his voice was sudden — quieter, harder.
"Things he kept from you deliberately.
If this goes to court, all of it comes out.
Things that will change how you understand your entire inheritance."
Daniel looked at him.
"Then they'll come out."
Victor's jaw tightened.
"You'd burn your own family's history to—"
"You forged my signature.
You stole from my father's estate.
You helped starve my wife six days after she gave birth and planned to take my son to use against me." Daniel walked to the door and opened it.
"We're done, Victor."
Victor stood in the middle of the room.
For a moment he didn't move.
Then he straightened his jacket — a small, precise gesture — and walked toward the door.
He stopped just before the threshold.
"Your father knew what I was doing," he said quietly.
"He knew for the last two years of his life.
And he let me continue." He looked at Daniel.
"Ask yourself why."
He walked out.
Daniel closed the door.
He stood with his hand on the handle for a moment.
Then he went back to Sophie.
"Did you hear that?" he asked.
"Every word," she said.
She was already typing.
"We need your father's personal files.
Everything Victor might have had access to."
"The study," Daniel said.
May you like
"The locked study."
He went upstairs to get the key.
