Chapter 10 - Compartment B
Daniel drove home faster than he should have.
Sarah followed separately after warning him twice not to create another piece of courtroom evidence against himself.
By the time Daniel reached Whitmore House, the hidden compartment was open.
And empty.
Rachel stood beside the bookcase.
Victor was gone.
Daniel stared at her.
“What did he take?”
She crossed her arms.
“Documents that belonged to my father.”
“Charles’s inventory says otherwise.”
“My father signed the statement.”
“That doesn’t make the original his property.”
“He had the key.”
“And my father had the compartment.”
Rachel looked away.
Daniel’s voice dropped.
“Where is Victor?”
“I don’t know.”
“You handed him the key.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he said the statement would prove Martin was coerced.”
“And did it?”
She did not answer.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Rachel.”
“He read it.”
“What did it say?”
Silence.
That silence was different.
Not defensive.
Shaken.
“What did it say?”
Rachel whispered, “Martin admitted Victor created Northbridge.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
There it was.
The truth she had resisted.
She sat heavily in Charles’s chair.
“My father said Victor designed the companies. He said he approved invoices because Victor promised the money would be replaced before anyone noticed.”
Daniel remained standing.
“What else?”
“Martin said when Charles discovered it, Victor wanted him to destroy records.”
“And?”
“He refused.”
Rachel looked sick.
“Victor threatened to tell me everything and make me responsible for money in my trust account.”
Daniel sat across from her.
“Did your father say Charles framed him?”
“No.”
Rachel began crying.
“He said Charles frightened him. He said Charles cared more about protecting Whitmore than justice. But he didn’t say Charles invented anything.”
Daniel let the silence settle.
Rachel had just lost the story she had used to justify years of resentment.
“Why did Victor take the statement?”
“You know why.”
“Yes.”
She covered her face.
“I gave it to him.”
Daniel’s anger returned.
“You read proof that he lied to you for twelve years and then let him take it?”
“He said if the original became public, my father would be remembered only as a thief.”
“He was trying to destroy evidence.”
“I know that now!”
Daniel slammed his hand against the desk.
Rachel stood.
“Stop!”
He saw fear in her face.
He stopped.
Not because she deserved protection from consequences.
Because Caleb deserved parents who could control themselves.
Daniel backed away.
“Where did Victor take it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
“He has a secure records room at Halcyon’s White Plains office.”
Sarah arrived with a forensic specialist.
They documented the open compartment.
Security footage clearly showed Rachel allowing Victor into the house.
It also showed Victor carrying a document box when he left.
Daniel called police.
The responding officer listened, reviewed the video, then sighed.
“Your wife invited him inside.”
“He removed my father’s documents.”
Rachel said quietly, “I gave him permission.”
Daniel stared at her.
The officer continued.
“That makes this complicated. You may have a civil ownership dispute.”
“He took evidence tied to fraud.”
“Then your attorneys need to provide that.”
Sarah nodded.
“We will.”
After the police left, Rachel headed upstairs.
Daniel said, “You can’t keep choosing him.”
She turned.
“I’m not.”
“You just did.”
“No. I chose my father.”
“Victor made you believe those are the same thing.”
Rachel looked wounded.
“That doesn’t absolve me.”
“No.”
For once, Daniel did not soften the truth.
“No, it doesn’t.”
The next morning Sarah obtained an emergency preservation order requiring Halcyon and Victor not to destroy documents relevant to the disputed financing or Northbridge-related allegations.
Victor’s lawyers responded within an hour.
They denied possession of any Whitmore property.
Daniel nearly threw the letter across the room.
Sarah pointed at him.
“Control yourself.”
“He walked out on camera carrying them.”
“We will get them.”
“How?”
“Discovery.”
“That takes time.”
“Then stop giving him reasons to make you look unstable while we use it.”
Daniel hated that she was right.
Then the forensic specialist entered.
“We finished comparing the current Halcyon entities to the old Northbridge records.”
Sarah stood.
“And?”
“One routing sequence appears repeatedly.”
Daniel frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“It means the same hidden payment structure used in 2014 may have been reactivated in 2026.”
The specialist turned his laptop.
Recent transfers from Halcyon affiliates led to Leonard Price.
Then from Price to a private consulting company.
The owner of that company was listed under another name.
But the mailing address belonged to someone Daniel knew.
May you like
Rachel’s divorce attorney.
Marissa Cole.
