Chapter 7 - Richard’s Bargain
Claire slapped him.
The sound echoed through Daniel’s office.
Richard didn’t defend himself.
“You let them target my brother?”
“I never intended for Daniel to drink anything.”
“You disappeared during the fire.”
“Because the person behind this contacted me.”
Daniel stepped between them.
“Start from the beginning.”
Richard opened the briefcase.
Six weeks earlier, he had received an encrypted email.
The sender knew about his private gambling debts.
Nearly two million dollars.
Claire stared at him.
“You told me those were paid.”
“I lied.”
Her face hardened.
Richard continued.
“The sender offered to erase the debt.”
“In exchange for what?”
“At first, information.”
“What information?”
“Daniel’s schedule.”
Daniel remained expressionless.
“What else?”
“His medication.”
Nora looked horrified.
“His travel.”
“His security routines.”
Claire whispered, “You gave them all of that?”
“Not everything.”
“Enough.”
Richard looked at Daniel.
“Eventually they told me there would be a dinner.”
“This dinner.”
“Yes.”
“They asked you to poison me.”
“They asked me to make sure a specific cup reached you.”
Daniel stared.
“So Nora was set up.”
Richard nodded.
“The cup was supposed to be altered in the west hall.”
“By whom?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect us to believe that?”
“They never gave names.”
“Why agree?”
“I told myself I could expose them.”
Claire laughed bitterly.
“You told yourself you could erase your debt.”
Richard said nothing.
Daniel pointed at the vial.
“What is that?”
“A duplicate.”
“From where?”
“The person who contacted me left two.”
“One to use.”
“And one to keep as leverage.”
Daniel stared at him.
“You were blackmailing them.”
“I was protecting myself.”
“Same thing.”
Owen took the vial.
Richard continued.
“The plan changed this afternoon.”
“How?”
“They told me Daniel wasn’t supposed to die.”
“We know.”
“They needed him impaired.”
“For signatures.”
Richard nodded.
“And after?”
“They planned to release footage showing him drunk and unstable.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Destroy my credibility.”
“Yes.”
“And install you as proxy.”
Richard looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
Claire turned away.
Michael asked, “Who benefits?”
Richard removed a paper from the briefcase.
“A company called Norchester Capital.”
Daniel had heard of it.
An aggressive private fund.
It had tried to buy into Parallax months earlier.
Richard shook his head.
“But I don’t think Norchester is the real player.”
“Why?”
“Because these transfers don’t lead there.”
He showed them bank records.
A series of shell entities eventually converged on one foundation.
The Rebecca Mercer Foundation.
Daniel stared.
“That’s impossible.”
The foundation had been created by his late wife.
It funded pediatric hospitals.
Rebecca had managed it until her death.
Afterward, Claire became interim chair.
Claire stepped closer.
“What?”
Richard pointed.
“Money is moving through accounts attached to the foundation.”
Claire shook her head.
“I would know.”
“Would you?”
“Yes.”
Richard looked at Daniel.
“Someone has been using Rebecca’s foundation for at least four years.”
Daniel felt sick.
“While she was alive.”
“Yes.”
Michael whispered, “That’s what she found.”
Daniel suddenly understood the notebooks.
The medical contractors.
The shell companies.
The forged signatures.
Rebecca had not stumbled onto a family dispute.
She had discovered financial infrastructure built around her name.
Owen asked, “Who manages the foundation’s backend accounts?”
Claire answered immediately.
“A finance team.”
“Headed by?”
Claire stopped.
Her eyes moved toward Thomas.
Thomas went pale.
“Until last year,” Claire said slowly, “Thomas’s firm handled compliance.”
Thomas shook his head.
“I never controlled transfers.”
“But your firm approved them.”
“Yes.”
Daniel turned.
“Who specifically?”
Thomas looked at the floor.
“Evan Rowe.”
The missing associate again.
Owen called for an immediate search.
They found Evan forty minutes later.
Not at home.
Not at a hotel.
At the private terminal of Mercer Aviation.
Trying to board a charter flight.
Police brought him back just before dawn.
He looked younger than Daniel expected.
Thirty-four.
Clean-cut.
Terrified.
Owen questioned him in the library.
Daniel watched through the glass doors.
For twenty minutes Evan denied everything.
Then Owen placed Rebecca’s notebook in front of him.
Evan broke.
“I didn’t kill her.”
Daniel entered.
Evan looked up.
“I didn’t.”
“Then who did?”
“I don’t know.”
“You forged my signature.”
Evan’s eyes filled with panic.
“They made me.”
“Who?”
“I never met them.”
“That answer is getting old.”
“It’s true.”
Daniel leaned across the table.
“What happened to Rebecca?”
Evan shook his head.
“She found the documents.”
“What documents?”
“The Parallax trials.”
Daniel stopped.
“What trials?”
Evan swallowed.
“Off-book clinical studies.”
Michael entered behind Daniel.
“Studies of what?”
Evan looked at Owen.
“I want a lawyer.”
Daniel slammed his palm on the table.
“My wife died because of this.”
Evan flinched.
“I don’t know that.”
“But you think it.”
Silence.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Tell me.”
Evan finally whispered.
“Parallax developed a compound years ago.”
Owen raised a hand.
“Don’t speculate medically.”
Evan nodded quickly.
“I only know what the records said.”
“What records?”
“Internal reports.”
“What happened?”
“People became disoriented.”
Daniel thought about Rebecca.
Dizziness.
Confusion.
The crash.
Evan continued.
“The trial was stopped.”
“Then why hide it?”
“Because it wasn’t stopped everywhere.”
Daniel stared.
“What does that mean?”
Evan looked terrified.
“Somebody continued testing it privately.”
“On who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who funded it?”
Evan shook his head.
Then Daniel saw it.
Fear.
Not of him.
Of the answer.
“Who?”
Evan whispered, “Aster Research.”
The shell company from Rebecca’s records.
Owen asked, “Who owns Aster?”
Evan closed his eyes.
“I found out three years ago.”
Daniel waited.
“The registered owner is dead.”
“Name.”
Evan looked directly at him.
“Your father.”
Daniel stepped back.
His father had died five years earlier.
Which meant either the records were fraudulent—
or the conspiracy had begun inside the Mercer family long before Rebecca discovered it.
Then Evan said one more thing.
“Rebecca wasn’t the first person who found out.”
Daniel’s voice became quiet.
“Who was?”
Evan looked toward Claire.
May you like
“Your mother.”
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