Chapter 11 - The Sapphire
The jeweler remembered Victoria.
Not because she was famous.
Because she had been frantic.
"She wanted it repaired immediately," Malcolm Greene told Detective Ruiz.
"Did she explain how it broke?"
"She said she caught it on a hotel door."
"Was there blood?"
Greene frowned.
"No."
"Damage?"
"The clasp was twisted. One sapphire missing."
He showed them the repair photograph.
Nathan looked at the bracelet.
Laura had picked those stones.
He remembered her teasing Victoria.
Blue makes you look less terrifying.
Victoria had laughed.
That memory felt diseased now.
Ruiz obtained a warrant for forensic comparison of the broken clasp.
Microscopic wear patterns matched Victoria's bracelet.
The clasp had almost certainly come from it.
Nathan asked the obvious question.
"How does someone's bracelet clasp end up in Laura's footwell?"
Ruiz replied, "By that person reaching into the car."
"After the crash."
"Most likely."
"Why?"
"We're getting there."
The answer came partially from the paramedic report.
Laura had been found with her seatbelt released.
But injuries suggested she had been wearing it during impact.
Someone had unfastened it afterward.
Possibly Victoria.
Possibly a rescuer.
Except Victoria had told 911 she could not approach the vehicle.
Nathan read that line three times.
She had lied even during the emergency call.
Meanwhile, Samuel Reid brought worse news.
Federal investigators had requested Nathan's communications concerning Westbridge.
"Voluntary request?" Nathan asked.
"At this stage."
"And if I refuse?"
"They subpoena them."
Nathan handed everything over.
Reid watched him.
"There may be messages you regret."
"There are."
"Anything criminal?"
"I don't know."
"That's not a comforting answer."
Nathan leaned back.
"I told Julian to solve permitting issues. I approved consultants. I stopped asking questions because deadlines mattered more to me."
"Did you authorize bribes?"
"No."
"Did you know vendors were shells?"
"No."
"Did Laura warn you?"
Nathan closed his eyes.
"Yes."
Reid wrote something.
Nathan resented the pen.
Then accepted that resentment was childish.
Truth did not care whether the pen hurt his feelings.
That evening, Nathan took Emily and Caleb to a rented house outside the city.
The hotel had become impossible.
Reporters waited downstairs.
Caleb had started hiding whenever elevators opened.
The rental was smaller than their guest wing at the mansion.
Emily loved it immediately.
"There aren't cameras here?"
Nathan had the security company sweep it twice.
"No."
She touched the wall.
"Good."
Caleb chose the smallest bedroom because it had green curtains.
Nathan cooked pasta.
It was terrible.
The children ate it anyway.
For twenty minutes, they almost felt like a family rather than witnesses.
Then the doorbell rang.
Nathan froze.
Mara stood outside.
She was holding the divorce petition Victoria had officially filed.
"She's asking for the house, spousal support, and equitable division of marital assets."
"The mansion was mine before marriage."
"She's claiming substantial marital contribution and an oral agreement."
Nathan laughed.
"Of course she is."
Mara did not laugh.
"There's more."
Victoria's lawyers alleged Nathan fabricated abuse claims after becoming aware she intended to expose Westbridge misconduct.
"They're saying I coached my children?"
"Yes."
Nathan looked toward the kitchen.
Emily was helping Caleb wipe sauce from the table.
Mara lowered her voice.
"Victoria is trying to merge every scandal into one story."
"What story?"
"That you are the dangerous one."
Nathan stared at the petition.
Then Mara handed him another page.
Victoria claimed she possessed evidence proving Nathan had knowingly directed off-book payments.
"If she has evidence, why didn't she release it?"
"Leverage."
Nathan looked at the rental house.
His children had finally stopped whispering.
He understood suddenly what Victoria wanted.
Not necessarily to win.
To make truth expensive.
To force him to choose which disaster to fight.
Marriage.
Children.
Laura.
Company.
Freedom.
Money.
He folded the petition.
"I'm not settling for silence."
Mara nodded.
"I thought you'd say that."
His phone rang.
Ruiz.
"We re-examined Laura's toxicology."
Nathan's heartbeat changed.
"And?"
"The zolpidem level was higher than expected from a normal therapeutic dose taken when investigators believed she took it."
"Could someone have drugged her?"
"Possibly."
Nathan looked at the children.
Laura had not accidentally taken a sleeping pill before driving.
May you like
Someone had put it inside her.
And Victoria had been inside Laura's car after the crash.
