Chapter 13 - Project Breath
Project Breath began before Victoria touched the first vial.
The investigative firm, Mercer Gray Solutions, had followed Daniel’s car.
Tracked his travel.
Photographed Maria entering pharmacies.
Recorded the times Sophie attended medical appointments.
Collected social-media posts from school events.
Compiled Daniel’s public arguments with reporters and employees.
The final report categorized him:
High-control personality.
Elevated anger response under challenge.
Frequent business travel.
Delegates domestic care.
Daniel read the file with shame.
Some observations were distorted.
Some were true.
Victoria and Adrian had built their plan around his existing weaknesses.
Rebecca said:
“They needed a story a judge could believe.”
“And I gave them ingredients.”
“Yes.”
Project Breath also contained recordings of Daniel shouting during conference calls inside his own garden.
Legally obtained from outside public vantage points in some instances, illegally questionable in others.
One clip hurt.
Daniel shouted at a contractor:
“If you can’t handle one simple responsibility, I’ll find somebody who can.”
The recording then captured Sophie asking Maria:
“Is Daddy mad at me?”
Daniel stopped playback.
He left the room.
For twenty minutes he sat outside beneath an old oak tree.
Maria found him.
“They used your worst moments.”
“They didn’t invent all of them.”
“No.”
“I thought because I never hit Sophie I wasn’t frightening.”
Maria sat beside him.
“Children hear storms even when rain does not fall on them.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You’ve been waiting twenty years to say things like that.”
“Maybe.”
He laughed weakly.
Then returned inside.
The report showed something else.
Mercer Gray had surveilled a pediatric pharmacy technician named Julia Ross.
Why?
Julia had noticed unusual pickup patterns.
Victoria collected Sophie’s medication twice but did not live at the mansion full time.
Julia called the household to confirm future authorization.
Someone answered from a number registered to Victoria and claimed to be Maria.
Julia became suspicious.
She wrote an internal note.
Three days later Mercer Gray researched her.
One month later Julia was fired.
Official reason: unauthorized access to patient profiles.
Daniel stared.
“They got her fired.”
Rebecca nodded.
“How?”
Mercer Gray supplied the pharmacy chain with evidence that Julia had looked up Sophie’s records without a work reason.
Julia insisted she accessed them while investigating pickup irregularities.
The company chose caution and terminated her.
Another powerless person removed.
Daniel contacted Julia through attorneys.
She agreed to speak.
“I thought someone was using the child’s medicine wrong.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“I tried.”
“Who answered?”
“A woman.”
Victoria.
Julia had also saved a screenshot before termination.
It showed an attempted refill cancellation submitted through Sophie’s patient portal.
The login originated from an IP address assigned to Ashford Holdings’ executive floor.
Daniel frowned.
“Victoria didn’t work there.”
“Adrian did.”
The conspiracy connected household manipulation to corporate systems.
Adrian had accessed Sophie’s patient portal using credentials Victoria obtained.
That could expose him to additional charges.
When prosecutors confronted him, Adrian admitted it.
“I cancelled one refill.”
“Why?”
“Victoria said she needed a documented delay.”
“Did you know Sophie needed the medication?”
“I knew it was prescribed.”
“That was not the question.”
Adrian looked away.
“Yes.”
He had not thrown the mask.
But he had helped create risk.
His cooperation deal became less favorable.
The trust proceeding also shifted.
Victoria’s attorneys withdrew her petition to remove Daniel.
The evidence had become indefensible.
But the judge did not automatically remove the neutral co-trustee.
Instead she ordered a full governance review.
Daniel was angry.
Rebecca said:
“Why?”
“Victoria’s case collapsed.”
“And the court learned you approved a suspicious transfer from Sophie’s trust.”
“Because I was deceived.”
“You still approved it.”
Daniel breathed.
“Right.”
The neutral oversight remained.
Another power Daniel did not regain.
Another consequence he had to accept.
That night Sophie asked:
“Who owns my thirty thing?”
“Thirty percent?”
“Yes.”
“You do, through the trust.”
“Then why can’t I tell everyone to stop fighting?”
Daniel smiled sadly.
“Because you’re seven.”
“That’s unfair.”
“Yes.”
“When I’m older, can I sell it?”
“Maybe.”
“Can I give it away?”
“Within rules, maybe.”
Sophie thought.
“I want Maria to have one percent.”
Maria nearly dropped a tray.
“No, Miss Sophie.”
“Why?”
“Because I would spend all day worrying about it.”
Sophie giggled.
Daniel realized she still saw shares as things adults could simply distribute like cookies.
Perhaps that was healthier than seeing them as weapons.
Then Daniel’s phone rang.
Rebecca.
Owen had agreed to cooperate.
He had provided investigators with one missing recording.
Thomas Ashford speaking to Victoria six weeks before his death.
Daniel listened.
THOMAS: You are using Sophie’s trust to settle a score with your brother.
VICTORIA: You used it to humiliate me.
THOMAS: I used it to protect the company from both of you.
VICTORIA: You never trusted me.
THOMAS: I did. That was my mistake.
A long silence.
Victoria then said:
“One day Daniel will lose control.”
Thomas answered:
“If you ever use that child to take it, you will prove I was right to keep it from you.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
May you like
Victoria had remembered every word.
And turned the warning into prophecy.
