Chapter 3 - The Edited Video
By seven the next morning, a video of Daniel striking Victoria had been viewed 2.4 million times.
Someone had cut away everything before the first slap.
No orange juice.
No Sophie falling.
No Victoria striking the child.
Only Daniel towering over his wife and hitting her twice.
The headline read:
BILLIONAIRE HOTEL CEO ATTACKS WIFE AT CHARITY GALA.
Daniel watched it once.
Then Rachel took his phone.
“Stop feeding yourself poison.”
“It’s edited.”
“Yes.”
“Someone had that version ready.”
Rachel didn’t answer.
They were in the rear seat of Daniel’s SUV outside Ashford Development’s Manhattan headquarters.
Sophie sat at home with June and Daniel’s sister-in-law, Claire.
Daniel had wanted to stay with his daughter.
Rachel had insisted he attend the board meeting.
“If you don’t walk into that room,” she said, “Nathan controls the narrative.”
Daniel looked up at the forty-seven-story building his father had once mortgaged his home to save.
“I should have seen this.”
“See what?”
“Nathan.”
“You don’t know yet.”
“I know enough.”
They entered through a private garage to avoid reporters.
The boardroom was already full.
Nathan sat at the far end of the table.
Beside him was Mark Ellison, the company’s CFO.
Across from them sat five independent directors.
At the head was Eleanor Price, seventy-one, former federal judge and longtime family friend.
Daniel took his usual seat.
Eleanor did not smile.
“Daniel, before we discuss anything else, are Sophie and Victoria safe?”
“Sophie is with me.”
“And Victoria?”
“I don’t know.”
Nathan scoffed.
“She spent the night with her attorney.”
Daniel looked at him.
“How would you know?”
Nathan’s eyes shifted.
Only briefly.
Daniel noticed.
Eleanor noticed too.
Nathan recovered.
“She called me.”
“At what time?”
“Daniel,” Eleanor interrupted, “this is not a deposition.”
“It should be.”
Nathan leaned back.
“You assaulted your wife in front of two hundred people.”
“After she hit my daughter.”
“The public doesn’t know that.”
“Interesting choice of words.”
Nathan’s face hardened.
Eleanor slid a document across the table.
“The board has received a recommendation from outside counsel that you take temporary administrative leave pending the domestic investigation and internal financial review.”
Daniel laughed once.
“Financial review?”
Mark Ellison adjusted his tie.
“Last night, compliance discovered unauthorized deletion of audit records.”
Daniel looked at him.
“When?”
“Approximately nine forty-two.”
The room went silent.
Daniel checked the timestamp on the printed report.
9:42:07 p.m.
At that moment he had been standing near the ballroom stage, watching Sophie speak to donors.
Nearly two hundred witnesses could establish it.
Daniel looked at Nathan.
Nathan said, “You have remote access.”
“So do you.”
“And half the senior leadership team.”
Daniel turned to Mark.
“Whose credentials?”
Mark hesitated.
“Yours.”
Rachel slid forward in her chair.
“Device?”
“A laptop registered to Daniel.”
“Which laptop?”
Mark looked uncomfortable.
“The personal MacBook assigned to his home office.”
Daniel felt a slow, terrible clarity.
Nathan had been heading to that office when police arrived.
The black folder had been found in his hands.
Daniel looked around the table.
“Someone used my computer while I was downstairs.”
Nathan shook his head.
“Or you scheduled the deletion.”
“Then why were you inside my office?”
“I told you. Victoria asked for papers.”
“You knew where the key was?”
Nathan stopped.
Daniel leaned forward.
“My home office has a physical lock. Only two keys exist.”
Nathan said nothing.
Daniel continued.
“One is mine. The other is Victoria’s.”
Eleanor’s gaze shifted toward Nathan.
Nathan’s face flushed.
“She gave it to me.”
“When?”
“Last night.”
“Before or after she hit Sophie?”
Nathan slammed his palm against the table.
“This is absurd.”
Daniel stood.
“No. What’s absurd is a false 911 call reporting a domestic assault before the assault happened.”
Several directors looked at one another.
Nathan’s anger faltered.
Daniel saw it.
“So you didn’t know about that?”
Nathan recovered quickly.
“I know you are becoming paranoid.”
Daniel reached into his folder.
“I ordered the audit because eighteen million dollars is missing.”
Mark Ellison inhaled sharply.
Nathan said, “Preliminary variance.”
“No.”
Daniel threw copies onto the table.
“Eighteen point six million transferred over twenty-two months to six vendors with overlapping addresses.”
Mark stared at the pages.
“I have never seen this.”
“You approved eleven payments.”
“With automated authorization based on project certification.”
“Certified by Nathan’s operations division.”
Nathan stood.
“Enough.”
Daniel faced him.
“No. We’re just beginning.”
Eleanor raised her voice.
“Both of you sit down.”
Nobody moved.
Then Mark said quietly, “There is something else.”
Everyone turned.
The CFO opened his laptop.
“The deleted files were recovered from immutable backup overnight.”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
Mark continued.
“Some approvals bear Daniel’s electronic signature.”
“I know.”
“But the authentication certificate associated with the signatures was reissued eleven months ago.”
Daniel frowned.
“I never requested a new certificate.”
Mark looked directly at him.
“According to the records, the request came from your home network.”
Daniel thought of Victoria.
Nathan sat slowly.
Eleanor removed her glasses.
“Until we establish what happened, Daniel will take administrative leave.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You’re handing control to Nathan?”
“Temporarily.”
Nathan tried not to smile.
Failed.
Power changed hands in less than thirty seconds.
Daniel surrendered his company access badge.
Mark disabled his administrative credentials.
Security waited outside the boardroom.
When Daniel stood to leave, Nathan followed him into the corridor.
The elevator doors opened.
Daniel entered.
Nathan stayed outside.
“I told you to resign,” Nathan said.
Daniel held his gaze.
“You planned the police call.”
Nathan smiled.
“You always think anger is strength.”
The doors began closing.
Daniel stepped forward.
Nathan’s voice dropped.
“That’s why Victoria chose Sophie.”
The doors shut.
Daniel stood frozen inside the elevator.
Rachel looked at him.
“What did he mean?”
May you like
Daniel stared at his reflection in the steel doors.
“He just told me the attack wasn’t random.”
