Chapter 5 - Two Hundred Thousand Dollars
Maria wanted to leave.
Not the room.
The chalet.
“Tonight,” she said.
Nathan followed her toward the staff corridor.
“Maria, stop.”
“No.”
“You didn’t blackmail anyone.”
“That does not matter.”
“It matters to me.”
She turned.
“Yesterday it mattered to you whether I owed your father money.”
Nathan stopped.
Maria’s eyes filled.
“I cannot spend every day proving I am not the kind of woman Serena says I am.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I do if I stay.”
Ava babbled from the high chair in the breakfast room.
Maria looked toward her.
That made leaving harder.
Nathan knew it.
He also knew he had no right to use Ava as emotional leverage.
“What do you need?” he asked.
Maria laughed without humor.
“For you not to ask me that like you can fix everything.”
Nathan went silent.
Maria packed one suitcase.
She agreed to remain available to police and lawyers.
She did not agree to keep working.
Nathan watched her drive away through the snow.
For the first time since Ava’s birth, the chalet felt unmanageable.
Not because there were dishes or laundry.
Because Maria had been the person who noticed what Nathan missed.
Now she was gone because he had helped make the house unsafe for her.
That evening Serena’s attorney, Calvin Price, contacted Nathan’s counsel.
Serena denied abusing Ava.
She described the milk incident as “an unfortunate moment of frustration exaggerated by a financially motivated employee.”
She claimed Maria had demanded money weeks earlier.
Nathan’s lawyer, Rachel Kim, asked for proof.
Calvin produced a text message.
Maria: I need $200,000 or Nathan hears everything.
Nathan stared.
“That isn’t her number.”
Rachel zoomed in.
The screenshot displayed Maria’s name, not the originating number.
“Screenshots are easy to manipulate,” she said.
Digital verification would matter.
Serena also threatened a civil suit if Nathan publicly accused her.
“She wants silence,” Nathan said.
Rachel replied, “She wants control of the narrative.”
Nathan almost laughed.
Everyone in his life suddenly spoke in litigation language.
Narrative.
Evidence.
Preservation.
Exposure.
He missed the simple horror of knowing milk had been poured on his child and someone had lied.
But simple horror rarely stayed simple when money entered the room.
Jason Wu preserved Nathan’s household servers.
He discovered Serena had exported Maria’s contact card a month earlier.
He also found a prepaid messaging application installed briefly on Serena’s tablet.
Deleted.
Recoverable.
Nathan asked, “Can it show whether she created the fake message?”
“Maybe.”
Before Jason could finish, Maria called.
Her voice was unsteady.
“Someone broke into my apartment.”
Nathan stood.
“What was taken?”
“Almost nothing.”
“Are you safe?”
“Yes. Police are here.”
“What’s missing?”
“My old phone.”
“What was on it?”
“Messages with your father. With you. Household photographs.”
“Anything about Serena?”
Maria paused.
“Notes.”
“What notes?”
“I started writing down things she said to Ava.”
Nathan shut his eyes.
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“Why didn’t you give them to me?”
“Because I didn’t know whether I was imagining patterns.”
“What did you write?”
Maria read from a notebook she had fortunately kept separately.
December 14 — Serena told Ava, “Daddy leaves because you cry.”
December 18 — Serena refused bottle for approximately ten minutes because Ava threw spoon.
December 21 — Told Nathan Serena is too strict. Nathan dismissed concern.
Nathan flinched.
December 27 — Heard Serena say, “When we’re married, this house changes.”
January 2 — Serena asked which attorney created Ava’s trust.
January 4 — Serena entered Maria’s room while Maria was downstairs.
January 9 — Serena asked whether Maria still owed Thomas money.
Nathan sat down slowly.
The pattern joined two separate worlds.
Ava.
And money.
Rachel Kim asked Maria, “Why would Serena connect your debt to Ava’s trust?”
Maria answered, “Because she wanted me gone before the wedding.”
Nathan looked at the calendar.
The wedding was six weeks away.
Serena had pushed hard to marry in February instead of waiting until summer.
Why?
Claire Donnelly found the reason in a family limited partnership agreement.
Upon Nathan’s marriage, certain annual distributions to his household trust increased automatically.
Not Ava’s trust.
Nathan’s.
Approximately $3.2 million per year in additional income became available for family expenses.
A spouse could benefit indirectly.
Serena did not need to steal Ava’s $28 million trust immediately.
Marriage opened the first door.
Guardianship and trust influence were later doors.
Nathan whispered, “She was building a ladder.”
Rachel nodded.
“Money. Household authority. Estate planning. Credibility.”
“And Maria?”
“The person standing beside the ladder.”
Then Jason called.
“I recovered the deleted messaging app.”
“Did Serena fabricate the blackmail text?”
“Not exactly.”
Nathan frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“The account sent a message to Serena’s phone using Maria’s name.”
“From where?”
Jason gave him the registered device location.
Cole Summit Hospitality headquarters.
Executive floor.
Nathan’s blood ran cold.
“Who had access?”
“Several people.”
“Who was logged in?”
Jason hesitated.
“Your chief financial officer.”
May you like
Nathan’s closest corporate adviser, Grant Holloway.
And Grant was Serena’s older brother.
