Chapter 10 - The Night Victoria Lied About
Hospital records from six years earlier were difficult to obtain.
Rebecca found a legal route because my father's estate remained under my control.
St. Matthew's produced the visitor log.
Victoria entered at 10:42 p.m.
She left at 11:18.
My father went into cardiac arrest at 11:31.
That did not mean she caused it.
The medical record showed advanced heart disease.
His death had been ruled natural.
But Victoria had lied about being there.
I called her.
She answered immediately.
“What now?”
“Why were you at my father's hospital room the night he died?”
Nothing.
Not even breathing.
Then.
“Who told you that?”
“So you were there.”
“He asked to see me.”
“Why?”
“To discuss you.”
My stomach tightened.
“What about me?”
“He was worried.”
“About Nathan?”
“About you.”
I almost smiled.
Victoria could turn any accusation into one about someone else.
“He wanted Nathan out of the trust.”
She went quiet.
“You knew.”
“He was angry.”
“Because Nathan stole from him.”
“Nathan made a mistake.”
“You spent six years blackmailing your own son with that mistake.”
“That is an absurd accusation.”
“Did you threaten my father?”
“No.”
“Did you tell him you would destroy my marriage?”
Silence.
I heard Nathan in the background.
“Mom, give me the phone.”
Victoria refused.
Then she said something I would remember forever.
“Your father was an arrogant man who believed money made him untouchable.”
My voice dropped.
“What happened in that room?”
“He insulted my son.”
“What happened?”
“He said Nathan would never control his company.”
I looked at Rebecca.
“What did you say?”
“I told him he might want to reconsider.”
“Why?”
“Because families change.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“He became agitated.”
There it was.
I stayed quiet.
Victoria continued defensively.
“He started shouting.”
“My father had a cardiac condition.”
“I knew that.”
“You knew.”
“He was responsible for managing his emotions.”
I closed my eyes.
“Did you call a nurse?”
Silence.
“Victoria.”
“He told me to leave.”
“Did you call a nurse before you left?”
“No.”
My throat tightened.
Eleven minutes later, my father went into cardiac arrest.
Maybe nothing Victoria did caused his death.
Maybe everything she did made it worse.
But one fact was certain.
She had left an already medically fragile man in distress and never told me she had been there.
Nathan finally took the phone.
“Claire, stop.”
“Did you know?”
“About what?”
“Your mother visiting my father.”
He did not answer.
I knew.
“You knew.”
“She told me afterward.”
“And you never told me.”
“I didn't think it mattered.”
“My father died thirteen minutes later.”
“I didn't know the timing.”
“You never wanted to.”
Nathan sounded close to tears.
“Claire, I was trying to hold our family together.”
“No.”
I looked at Ethan sleeping on the couch.
“You were holding your mother in the middle of it.”
After the call ended, Rebecca received a message from the forensic accountant.
Diane had discovered where the $1.4 million transferred to Brooke ultimately went.
Most of it passed through Hawthorne.
Then into another company.
A company registered in Delaware.
Its beneficial owner was hidden behind a trust service.
But one payment revealed the truth.
A property tax bill in Victoria's name.
Victoria had been buying a house.
Not a modest one.
May you like
A six-bedroom mansion in Palm Beach.
And she had used my company to pay for it.
