Chapter 4 - DANIEL’S SIDE
Daniel answered on the third call. I had not heard his voice in eleven months. “Claire?” He sounded afraid. Not surprised. “You knew this day would come.” Silence. Then: “Did Lily find it?” I almost dropped the phone. “You knew about the USB?” “Yes.” “Why was it in my mother’s house?” “Because I put it there.” Everything stopped. Then Daniel explained. Three years earlier, after the divorce, he realized Patricia and Vanessa were still using the Whitmore holding company to move money. He copied records. Videos. Emails. Why not give them to me? Because Patricia threatened him. With what? The affair. The forged loan. His own participation. Then: “What did you do?” He cried. “I signed one loan document.” My name? No. Daniel signed as spouse witness on a line of credit secured indirectly by the Bellevue property. He knew the property was transferred to me by Grandpa. He also knew Patricia later used a forged power of attorney. He confronted her.
Then Vanessa. The affair happened during that period. One night. Alcohol. Anger. Betrayal. No excuse. Then Patricia discovered. Used it. If Daniel exposed the property scheme, she would give me proof of affair and accuse him of helping forge everything. He feared criminal charges. Divorce. Losing Lily. Then: “So you took $180,000?” He went quiet. “I thought it was repayment.” “For what?” He had put $160,000 of marital savings into renovating Bellevue property before knowing it belonged to me. Patricia convinced him it was a family investment. Then when property sold, she paid him back plus twenty thousand. He accepted. Then learned deed transfer was forged. Too late. He had money. Knowledge. Affair. He panicked. Then filed for divorce before I discovered any of it. “Why abandon Lily?” This was the question. The only one that mattered more than money. He cried. “Patricia told me if I fought for custody, she’d expose everything and say I used Lily’s college account in the loan.”
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“Did you?” “No.” Then: “She had documents.” Forged? Some. Maybe. He did not know. Then: “I thought staying away protected her.” I almost screamed. “From what? Her father?” Silence. Then I said: “You let her believe you didn’t want her.” He whispered: “I know.” There. No defense. Then: “Why hide the USB in Mom’s house?” He planned to retrieve later. Patricia’s house had old locked room nobody entered. My old bedroom. He knew she never threw anything away. He hid it behind a false panel in an old desk. Then Lily found laptop bag. Maybe panel already disturbed. Then: “Why not send me copies anonymously?” “Because I was scared she’d know it was me.” There. Fear. Again. Then I asked: “Do you want to speak to Lily?” He stopped breathing. “Does she want to?” I asked her. Not yet. Good. Then Graham called me separately. He had left the ballroom. Wedding guests were being sent home. Vanessa refused to leave the bridal suite. Patricia was screaming at hotel staff.
Then Graham said: “I’ve had someone run preliminary title searches.” Of course. Attorney brain. Then: “The Bellevue deed chain is worse than we thought.” What? The property had not been sold to an outside buyer. It was transferred into Whitmore Coastal Holdings and then refinanced. Current title: Still held by company. Estimated value now: $3.4 million. My stomach dropped. The “sale price” was an internal transfer. Not final sale. The house still existed. My mother’s company still owned it. Then Graham said: “If the transfer out of your name was forged, you may still have a claim to the property itself.” Not just money. The actual Bellevue house. Then: “Who lives there?” He paused. “Vanessa.” Of course. My sister had been living in the house my grandfather left me. And I had attended her wedding believing she rented it.
