Chapter 6 - The Man Her Mother Trusted
Daniel did not deny it.
He sat across from Charlotte in Sebastian’s private library as morning light entered through the windows.
“Your mother and I were close.”
Charlotte waited.
Daniel continued.
“Not romantically.”
Sebastian watched him carefully.
“I was her investigator.”
Charlotte frowned.
“You said security.”
“That was my official job.”
Daniel explained that Evelyn suspected financial theft long before her death.
She could not trust Valle International’s auditors because Nathaniel controlled them.
So she had asked Daniel to investigate quietly.
He traced payments through charities, hotel vendors, and construction firms.
“What did you find?”
“That Nathaniel was stealing.”
Charlotte looked toward Sebastian.
“And Margaret?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Margaret was worse.”
He opened an old file.
Inside were copies of psychiatric evaluations supposedly written about Charlotte after Evelyn died.
Charlotte recognized the doctor’s name.
Dr. Howard Pierce.
She had never met him.
Yet the report described her as emotionally unstable, delusional, and possibly dangerous to herself.
Sebastian stood so quickly his chair struck the wall.
“This was used in court.”
Daniel nodded.
“It helped Nathaniel obtain temporary control over Charlotte’s trust.”
Charlotte felt sick.
“They said I disappeared.”
“They created a record making your disappearance look voluntary.”
Daniel turned another page.
A bank statement showed payments to Dr. Pierce from Northstar Development.
Charlotte’s voice became quiet.
“Why didn’t you stop them?”
Daniel looked directly at her.
“I tried.”
He removed a photograph.
Daniel lay in a hospital bed with his head bandaged.
“Two days after your mother died, someone ran my car off the road.”
Charlotte stared at him.
“I woke up six weeks later.”
By then, Charlotte was gone.
Sebastian had been told she refused all contact.
Daniel had been demoted and threatened.
He stayed inside the hotel company because he believed Evelyn’s evidence might eventually surface.
Charlotte looked away.
Eight years of anger had been built from carefully placed lies.
A knock came at the library door.
One of Sebastian’s attorneys entered.
“We found Dr. Pierce.”
Charlotte stood.
“Where?”
“Connecticut.”
The attorney looked uncomfortable.
“He wants immunity before he speaks.”
Sebastian replied instantly.
“He gets nothing from me.”
Charlotte stopped him.
“Let him talk.”
An hour later, Dr. Pierce appeared by secure video.
He looked older than his photograph.
He began with one sentence.
“I never examined Charlotte Valle.”
Charlotte already knew that.
Then he said the part that changed everything.
“I falsified the reports because Margaret Hayes threatened my family.”
Sebastian leaned toward the screen.
“What else did she make you do?”
Pierce swallowed.
“Evelyn Valle’s toxicology report.”
Charlotte’s heart stopped.
“There was a toxicology report?”
Pierce closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“And what did it show?”
The doctor whispered one word.
May you like
“Digitalis.”
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