Chapter 7 - What Rebecca Planned to Take
Rebecca’s divorce attorney was named Sandra Cole.
She had retired to Oregon but agreed to speak with investigators after confirming Rebecca was legally deceased and understanding the homicide implications.
Ethan was not entitled to privileged communications merely because he had been Rebecca’s husband.
But Sandra could provide limited information where legal exceptions applied, and she had preserved certain administrative records.
Morales handled the legal details.
What emerged was painful enough.
Rebecca had considered divorce.
She had not filed.
She had asked about temporary custody arrangements.
She had asked how to protect Mia’s separate trust.
She had asked whether exposing corporate crimes could jeopardize Ethan even if he was unaware of them.
That last question broke something inside him.
Rebecca had been angry at him.
She had still tried to protect him.
Claire found Ethan alone in the ballroom after midnight.
The wedding flowers had begun wilting.
“You should have them removed,” she said.
“I keep forgetting.”
She sat beside him.
“Are you angry she wanted a divorce?”
“Yes.”
“You’re allowed.”
“I’m angrier that Lucas thinks it proves she deserved what happened.”
Claire looked toward the staircase.
“She didn’t.”
“I know.”
He stopped.
Maya’s old lesson from another life might have fit him: stop saying I know. Start doing differently.
He looked at Claire.
“I’m also angry at you.”
“I know.”
This time he almost smiled.
Claire continued.
“You should be.”
“Why didn’t you tell me after Margaret’s leverage disappeared?”
“My brother got sober. My mother recovered. I left Whitmore Grand. Years passed.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“No.”
Claire clasped her hands.
“The real answer is uglier.”
Ethan waited.
“When you started trusting me with Mia, I was afraid you would take her away from me if you learned I had lied about Rebecca.”
“You thought I’d stop you seeing her.”
“Yes.”
“So you protected your relationship with my daughter by hiding something about her mother.”
Claire nodded.
“That is what I did.”
The honesty hurt.
But it also prevented another lie from growing.
“I don’t know whether I can marry you.”
“I understand.”
“I don’t want you to leave Mia.”
Claire’s eyes filled.
“That’s not entirely your decision.”
He looked at her.
“She has a say.”
That was true too.
The next morning Naomi found another financial link.
Lucas’s twelve-million-dollar transfer attempt had been intended to satisfy a private loan issued by Merrick Capital.
If unpaid, Merrick could seize Lucas’s pledged shares in Whitmore Heritage.
“Why would Lucas risk twenty-four percent of the company?” Ethan asked.
“He borrowed heavily.”
“For what?”
“Private real-estate deals. Cryptocurrency losses. Two failed restaurants. A yacht partnership.”
Ethan stared.
Lucas had been drowning financially.
Margaret had been rescuing him with trust money for years.
Rebecca discovered it.
That explained Margaret’s loyalty.
But not Victor’s.
Naomi uncovered Victor’s motive too.
Bellweather Advisory had received millions because Victor helped disguise unauthorized transfers.
If Rebecca exposed the scheme, Victor faced disbarment, civil liability, and prison.
Three people.
Three motives.
One woman standing between them and survival.
Then Rebecca’s blood was confirmed in the Northstar wine cellar.
Ethan sat completely still when Morales told him.
“How much?”
“Very little.”
“Could she have been injured there?”
“Yes.”
“Could she have died there?”
“We can’t conclude that.”
“What about DNA from anyone else?”
“They’re testing.”
The scarf also contained Rebecca’s blood.
The pattern suggested she had been bleeding from the head or face.
Morales obtained warrants for historical vehicle records.
Lucas owned a black Range Rover six years ago.
Automatic toll records showed it traveling north from Whitmore Grand at 1:17 a.m.
Returning south at 4:06 a.m.
Ethan remembered Lucas telling police he went home before midnight.
That was a lie.
Lucas’s attorney stopped cooperating.
Then the shareholder fight escalated.
Lucas issued a letter accusing Ethan of destabilizing the company to settle “personal grief.”
He demanded Ethan step aside as CEO.
Several investors supported him.
Ethan’s first instinct was to crush Lucas publicly.
Then Rachel Kim stopped him.
“Don’t use company resources for a family war.”
“He is using shareholders.”
“Then answer with governance, not revenge.”
It frustrated him.
It was right.
Ethan requested independent board oversight and voluntarily recused himself from parts of the investigation involving Rebecca.
The board appointed an interim operating committee.
His power shrank.
Lucas celebrated.
For one day.
Then Merrick Capital sued Lucas personally over the failed twelve-million-dollar payment.
His financial desperation became public.
The same shareholders who supported him began asking questions.
Power reversed again.
That evening Mia found Ethan examining Rebecca’s bracelet.
Police had returned it after photographing the paper compartment.
The tiny clasp was remarkably sophisticated.
Mia touched it.
“Mom hid the note in there?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I think she wanted somebody to find it.”
“Who?”
Ethan looked at her.
“Maybe you.”
Mia frowned.
“I was a baby.”
“She may have expected the bracelet to stay with you.”
“Grandma took it.”
“Yes.”
“Then gave it back later.”
“Yes.”
“Why would she do that if the note was inside?”
Ethan stopped.
He had assumed Margaret knew about the note.
But what if she did not?
What if she believed she had removed everything incriminating from the bracelet six years earlier?
Mia continued.
“Maybe Grandma was looking for something else.”
Ethan stared at the clasp.
The paper had occupied only half the tiny hollow space.
Something else could have fit inside.
A microSD card.
A small key.
A fragment of film.
He called Daniel Cho.
“Have the bracelet examined again.”
“For what?”
“A second compartment.”
Daniel called back an hour later.
Mia was right.
Inside the clasp was a second hidden cavity.
It was empty.
But under magnification technicians found residue from adhesive.
Something had been secured there.
May you like
Something Margaret may have removed the night Rebecca disappeared.
And whoever possessed it had been hiding it for six years.
