Chapter 7 - DANIEL’S MONEY
Amelia did not sleep.
At dawn, she called Daniel’s former business partner, Victor Lane.
They had not spoken in nearly five years.
Victor answered on the fourth ring.
“Amelia?”
“I need to ask you something about Daniel.”
Silence.
“Okay.”
“Did he transfer seventy-five thousand dollars to Joanna before he died?”
Victor did not answer.
That was answer enough.
“You knew.”
“I knew about the transfer.”
“Why?”
“I never knew the full reason.”
“Try.”
Victor sighed.
“Daniel found something.”
“What?”
“Financial irregularities.”
Amelia gripped the phone.
“In his company?”
“No.
In your mother’s accounts.”
Amelia sat down.
Victor continued.
“Your mother asked Daniel for help because she believed Joanna was using one of her credit cards without permission.”
Amelia closed her eyes.
“How much?”
“At first, maybe fifteen thousand.
Then Daniel found more.”
“What did he do?”
“He confronted Joanna.”
“And then sent her seventy-five thousand dollars?”
“I never understood that part.”
“Did he tell you anything?”
“He said he had made a deal to protect you from stress during the pregnancy.”
Amelia felt sick.
“What deal?”
“He wouldn’t say.”
Victor paused.
“Amelia, there is something else.”
“Tell me.”
“A week before the accident, Daniel asked me to help him change his life insurance beneficiary structure.”
Amelia’s heart pounded.
“Why?”
“He wanted part of it placed into a protected trust for the baby.”
“Did he say why?”
“He said he didn’t trust someone around you.”
Amelia’s fingers tightened around the phone.
“Did he say Joanna?”
“No.”
“But you think he meant her.”
“I think you already know what I think.”
After the call, Amelia searched Daniel’s old laptop.
The password still worked.
Inside an archived email folder, she found a message from Daniel to Joanna.
Subject: This ends now.
Joanna,
I have the statements.
I know what you took from your mother.
I also know what you changed.
I will give you the money we discussed because Amelia cannot handle another family crisis right now.
But understand me clearly.
This is not a gift.
It is the price of getting you out of her finances permanently.
After the baby is born, Amelia will know everything.
Do not contact me again about this.
Amelia read the final line several times.
Daniel had planned to tell her.
He died eleven days later.
The police had ruled the crash accidental.
Wet roads.
Loss of control.
No evidence of another vehicle.
Amelia forced herself not to create a connection that evidence did not support.
But Joanna’s warning at the school echoed in her mind.
You have no idea what happens if you keep digging.
Daniel.
Amelia forwarded the email to her attorney.
Then another message appeared in the search results.
Sent from Joanna to Daniel two days before his death.
May you like
You think you can cut me out.
You have no idea what Amelia will lose if you try.
