Chapter 5 - THE LETTER TERESA NEVER MEANT TO HIDE
Dominic stared at the envelope.
“You never opened it?”
Daniel shook his head.
“It was sealed and addressed to you.”
“Why didn’t you send it?”
“I didn’t find it until three weeks ago.”
Dominic touched the paper.
His sister had written his name eight years ago.
The day before she died.
Claire watched his thumb move slowly across the ink.
“Open it,” Daniel said.
Lily was drinking hot chocolate.
Dominic looked at her.
Daniel understood.
“Lil, want to help me find napkins?”
“There are napkins right there.”
Daniel paused.
Claire covered a smile.
“I need different napkins.”
Lily narrowed her eyes.
“You want me not to hear.”
“Yes.”
“Oh.”
She slid off the chair.
“Okay.”
Children, Claire thought, were often less difficult than adults because they appreciated a direct answer.
When Daniel and Lily had moved far enough away, Dominic opened the envelope.
Inside were two sheets of stationery.
Teresa’s handwriting covered both.
Dom,
If you’re reading this, I finally got brave enough to stop pretending everything is fine.
I think somebody is moving money out of Lily’s trust.
Not enough at once to be obvious.
But enough that I noticed.
Claire looked at Dominic.
His eyes moved faster.
I asked Vincent because he understands the clean side better than either of us. He told me the numbers may just be timing differences.
I don’t think he believes that.
I also don’t think he’s stealing.
He looked scared.
That worries me more.
Dominic continued.
There was more.
Teresa wrote that she had become increasingly uncomfortable with how Vale money was being shifted between legitimate companies and older family businesses.
She knew Dominic had been trying to separate the two worlds.
She also knew that separation had made certain people desperate.
Then came a sentence that made him stop.
Dad’s watch matters.
The person wearing it may be the only one who can prove who approved the transfers.
Claire leaned closer.
Vincent.
Dominic read on.
Please don’t go after him angry.
That is what you do when you are scared, and you have always been terrible at admitting the difference.
Despite everything, Claire almost smiled.
“She knew you.”
“Unfortunately.”
Then the final lines.
If anything happens to me, protect Lily by making the family safer.
Not by making Lily disappear.
There is a difference.
Love,
Tess
Dominic lowered the page.
For several moments, the noise of the conservatory café continued around them.
Cups.
Children.
Silverware.
A normal world.
Claire touched his wrist.
“I’m sorry.”
He nodded once.
Daniel returned with Lily.
Lily placed two napkins on the table.
“They were the same.”
Daniel sat.
Dominic handed him the letter.
Daniel read it.
By the end, his face had changed.
“She knew.”
“Yes.”
“I thought the trust problems started after she died.”
“So did I.”
Claire frowned.
“That means whoever began moving money was doing it while Teresa was alive.”
Dominic nodded.
“And Vincent knew enough to be worried.”
Daniel looked toward Marco.
“Did he?”
Marco approached.
Dominic handed him the letter.
He read it without speaking.
When he reached the sentence about the watch, he sat down.
Marco almost never sat without being invited.
Claire noticed.
“You know something,” she said.
Marco folded the paper carefully.
“I know Vincent came to me two days before Teresa died.”
Dominic stared.
“And you never thought to mention that?”
“I didn’t know she had written this.”
“What did he want?”
“He showed me irregular transfers.”
“How much?”
“At the time? Around six hundred thousand.”
“From Lily’s trust?”
“Yes.”
“Where did it go?”
“Three Vale operating companies.”
“Which ones?”
Marco named them.
Dominic’s expression darkened.
Claire recognized one company.
Vale Freight Services.
It had been investigated repeatedly years ago for suspected connections to organized crime.
“The old businesses,” she said.
Marco nodded.
Daniel swore under his breath.
Dominic looked toward Lily.
She was drawing on the paper napkin with a pen Claire had given her.
He lowered his voice.
“What did Vincent think?”
“He thought you were using Teresa’s trust as an emergency reserve.”
Dominic’s eyes flashed.
“And you told him?”
“That you weren’t.”
“Did he believe you?”
“No.”
That hurt.
Claire could see it.
Marco continued.
“Your reputation did not help.”
“No,” Dominic said. “Apparently it rarely does.”
Daniel looked at him.
“That’s the first sensible thing you’ve said in eight years.”
Dominic almost responded sharply.
Then stopped.
“You’re right.”
Daniel blinked.
Claire leaned toward him.
“He’s had a difficult morning.”
Dominic ignored her.
“What happened next?”
Marco rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“The next day Teresa died.”
Silence.
“And after?” Dominic asked.
“Vincent panicked. He wanted an audit. Your uncle’s old partners were still powerful. Teresa had just died in what everyone believed was an accident.”
Daniel’s head snapped up.
“What do you mean ‘believed’?”
Marco lifted a hand.
“The accident was investigated. There was no evidence of foul play.”
“But Vincent wondered.”
“So did I.”
Dominic’s voice hardened.
“So while I was burying my sister, you two were quietly investigating my companies.”
“Yes.”
“And instead of telling me, you hid Daniel and Lily.”
“Daniel wanted out.”
Daniel looked at Dominic.
“I did.”
The answer hurt, but Dominic nodded.
Daniel continued.
“I was terrified. Teresa was dead. People were talking about missing money. Men I didn’t know showed up at the funeral and knew my daughter’s name.”
Dominic looked down.
“I understand.”
“No,” Daniel said. “I don’t think you did then.”
Dominic met his eyes.
“I do now.”
Claire saw something pass between them.
Not forgiveness.
Recognition.
A beginning.
Marco checked his watch.
Then froze.
The motion caught Claire’s attention.
“What?”
Marco sighed.
“Dominic has a Vale Holdings board meeting tomorrow morning.”
Dominic frowned.
“I have a board meeting every Thursday.”
“Not this one.”
“What does that mean?”
Marco looked at him.
“Vincent requested an emergency session last night.”
Dominic stood.
“And you’re telling me now?”
“I learned an hour ago.”
“Purpose?”
Marco hesitated.
Claire hated that hesitation.
“Removal of executive authority pending financial review.”
Daniel looked between them.
“They’re trying to remove you?”
Marco nodded.
“Vincent claims funds belonging to a minor beneficiary were improperly transferred through companies under Dominic’s control.”
Claire’s stomach dropped.
“The five million.”
“Yes.”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“So the wedding gift wasn’t merely a test.”
“No.”
“It was evidence.”
Marco looked sick.
“Possibly.”
Claire understood.
Someone had transferred Lily’s money into Claire’s name three days after she became Dominic’s wife.
It looked exactly like Dominic had stolen from his niece to enrich his bride.
Dominic picked up Teresa’s letter.
“I want every record.”
“You’ll have them.”
“Every transfer. Every approval code. Every person who touched that trust.”
Marco nodded.
Daniel stood.
“I’m coming tomorrow.”
“No,” Dominic said.
Daniel’s face hardened.
“It’s my daughter’s money.”
Dominic looked at Lily.
Then back at him.
“You’re right.”
Lily raised her head.
“Am I in trouble?”
All four adults turned.
Daniel crouched beside her.
“No, honey.”
“Then why does everybody look mad?”
Claire walked over.
“Because grown-ups made some messes before you were old enough to make any.”
Lily considered that.
“Are you fixing them?”
Dominic looked at her.
“Yes.”
It was not a promise about money.
Claire knew that.
So did he.
They left the conservatory together.
At the doors, Daniel stopped Dominic.
“One more thing.”
He removed a second sheet from Teresa’s envelope.
Dominic frowned.
“You didn’t show me that.”
“I didn’t notice it until I folded the letter.”
It was a photocopy of a trust authorization.
A transfer.
One million dollars.
The date was six weeks before Teresa died.
The approving signature was Dominic’s.
Beside it was the code generated by his father’s watch.
But underneath, a second authorization appeared.
Claire Bennett.
Claire stared at her own signature.
Her own name.
May you like
Her own handwriting.
On a document created eight years before she had ever met Dominic Vale.
