Chapter 10 - Thomas’s VersionThomas Reed did know almost everything.
He admitted it only after federal investigators approached him.
Daniel met him in Caroline’s conference room.
Thomas looked as though he had not slept in days.
“You worked with Claire.”
“Yes.”
“You helped hide North Harbor losses.”
“Yes.”
“Did you steal?”
Thomas hesitated.
“I received bonuses tied to project performance.”
“From fake performance.”
“Yes.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“No. I did not directly divert company money.”
Caroline interrupted.
“That distinction may matter criminally.”
Daniel stayed focused.
“What did Arthur do?”
Thomas rubbed his forehead.
“North Harbor costs exploded. Environmental remediation was three times forecast. Claire wanted to shut the project down.”
Daniel blinked.
“Claire wanted to stop?”
“Yes.”
“Dad?”
“Arthur refused.”
That shifted something.
Claire had not created the original crisis.
Arthur had.
Thomas continued.
“Arthur said Whitmore could not absorb another public failure after the Detroit resort.”
Daniel remembered.
A brutal quarter.
Stock price fragile.
“So he told Claire to defer costs.”
“Yes.”
“She agreed.”
“Eventually.”
“Why?”
Thomas looked at Daniel.
“Because he told her if North Harbor failed, you would remove her as CFO.”
Daniel went still.
“I never said that.”
“Arthur told her you had.”
Daniel felt anger rise.
“He played us against each other.”
Thomas gave a tired laugh.
“For years.”
Claire believed Daniel wanted her gone.
Daniel believed Claire resented oversight.
Arthur translated each sibling to the other.
Then North Harbor accounting fraud escalated.
Claire created intermediary vendors.
Thomas helped.
Money moved between projects.
Some eventually entered Arthur’s private preservation trust.
“Why?”
“Arthur said it was emergency liquidity.”
“Claire took distributions.”
“Yes.”
“For herself?”
“Some paid tax liabilities created by the scheme. Some covered personal losses.”
“What personal losses?”
Thomas hesitated.
“Claire invested heavily in North Harbor through a private partnership.”
Daniel stared.
“She put her own money in?”
“Almost everything.”
Claire had been trying to prove she could build a project as successful as Daniel’s.
North Harbor collapsed.
She faced personal ruin.
Arthur offered rescue.
In exchange, she helped hide the company’s losses.
Again, motive and excuse diverged.
Claire had been trapped partly by pride.
Then chose worse actions to avoid consequences.
“Why did Olivia start investigating?”
“She noticed family trust payments.”
“And you told Claire.”
“Yes.”
“Why not tell me?”
Thomas looked at him.
“Because Claire said you would protect Arthur.”
Daniel almost objected.
Then thought of all the times he had.
“She may have been right.”
Thomas nodded.
Daniel hated him for that nod.
“What about the forged lake deed?”
Thomas went pale.
“You know.”
“Yes.”
“Arthur told me it was a resolved title issue.”
“It isn’t.”
Thomas leaned back.
“Then this is bigger than I thought.”
Daniel stared.
“You expect me to believe you didn’t know?”
Thomas shook his head.
“I knew about North Harbor. The trust. The refinancing. Not the original land fraud.”
Could be true.
Caroline asked:
“Did you know Claire intended to frame Maria?”
Thomas’s face changed.
“No.”
“Did she mention removing Maria?”
“Yes.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“How?”
“She said Maria had become ‘a liability tied to Olivia.’”
“Did you ask what that meant?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Thomas laughed bitterly.
“Because by then I had trained myself not to ask questions whose answers created obligations.”
The sentence chilled Daniel.
That was how entire systems became corrupt.
Not everyone needed to be cruel.
Some simply needed to prefer ignorance.
Thomas agreed to cooperate with investigators.
In exchange, prosecutors might consider his assistance.
Daniel felt no sympathy.
Then Thomas said:
“There is something you need to know about the leaked slap video.”
Daniel looked up.
“Claire released it?”
“No.”
“Who?”
Thomas’s eyes moved toward the window.
“Arthur.”
Daniel went still.
“My father publicly destroyed me?”
“He needed the board to suspend you.”
“Why?”
“To keep you from using your thirty-one percent voting block while he negotiated the refinancing.”
Daniel’s face drained.
Arthur had sacrificed his son’s reputation to maintain financial control.
A pattern.
People became assets.
Claire.
Daniel.
Maria.
Even Emma’s footage.
Daniel asked:
“Does Claire know?”
Thomas nodded.
“That’s why she stopped protecting him.”
The siblings had both finally learned the same lesson.
Their father’s loyalty lasted only while they were useful.
Daniel’s phone rang.
Detective Ortiz.
“Daniel, we need you at the mansion.”
“What happened?”
“We found another camera file.”
“Of Claire?”
“No.”
A pause.
“Your father.”
Daniel’s stomach tightened.
“What is he doing?”
May you like
Ortiz answered:
“Standing at the top of the staircase with Noah’s stroller two days before Claire pushed it.”
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