Chapter 10 - The Engagement Was a Transaction
Daniel requested a meeting through his attorney.
Miriam arranged it at a neutral office.
Two lawyers attended.
The conversation was documented with everyone's consent.
Daniel arrived without his wedding ring.
I noticed immediately.
He noticed me noticing.
"Claire."
"Daniel."
He sat across from me.
For a moment, I remembered the man I had married.
He had proposed on a rainy evening in Boston.
He had been nervous.
His hands had trembled as he opened the ring box.
I had thought that nervousness meant sincerity.
Now I wondered how much of our marriage had been a performance.
Daniel leaned forward.
"Vanessa planned the engagement party."
I said nothing.
"She wanted the announcement before the patent sale."
"Why?"
"She needed investors to believe we were united."
"Investors in what?"
He hesitated.
"Bridgepoint."
Miriam's pen stopped moving.
Daniel looked toward his lawyer.
His lawyer nodded cautiously.
"Bridgepoint was supposed to become the holding company for a new technology division."
"Using Whitmore patents?" I asked.
"Yes."
"At a fraction of their value?"
Daniel looked down.
"Vanessa said the valuation was temporary."
I stared at him.
"And you believed her?"
He didn't answer.
"Did you know about the ghost employees?"
His face changed.
That was answer enough.
"Daniel."
He rubbed his eyes.
"I knew there were unusual payments."
"How unusual?"
"I didn't ask."
"You signed the approvals."
"I trusted Vanessa."
I felt an almost unbearable surge of anger.
"You trusted Vanessa?"
He looked up.
"Claire, please."
"For ten years, you told me not to ask questions because I should trust you."
"I know."
"And now you're telling me you signed away company money because you trusted your mistress?"
His shoulders sagged.
"I made mistakes."
"Mistakes?"
I leaned forward.
"You proposed to another woman while you were married to me."
He flinched.
"You tried to use forged documents to take control of my father's company."
"That wasn't my idea."
"But you knew."
He said nothing.
"And when I refused to disappear quietly, you helped accuse me of stealing."
Daniel covered his face.
For a moment, I thought he might cry.
Instead, he whispered, "She has something on me."
Miriam looked up.
"What?"
Daniel stared at the table.
"Something from 2018."
My heartbeat quickened.
"What happened in 2018?"
He shook his head.
"I can't."
I stood.
"Then we're finished."
"Claire, wait."
I turned toward the door.
Daniel spoke so quietly I almost missed it.
"Your father called me the night he died."
I stopped.
"He said he was going to the police."
I turned around.
May you like
Daniel's face was gray.
"And I told Vanessa."
