Chapter 13 - The Recording in Arthur’s Study
Arthur installed a hidden recorder inside his study.
He used it to document conversations he could later distort during divorce proceedings.
Most files contained ordinary arguments.
Claire refusing loans.
Claire asking about missing money.
Arthur accusing her of distrusting his family.
Then investigators found a conversation between Arthur and Richard.
Arthur’s voice was relaxed.
“Claire still thinks this is about Brooke’s business.”
Richard answered, “She will inherit control soon.”
“She won’t use it. She hates conflict.”
“And if Evelyn warns her?”
Arthur laughed.
“Claire loves being loyal more than she loves being correct.”
Richard asked what would happen after the transfer.
Arthur replied:
“I married access, not ambition. Once the company is secured, she can keep the house and pretend the marriage mattered.”
Claire listened in silence.
Daniel reached to stop the file.
She shook her head.
The recording continued.
Richard asked about Samantha.
Arthur said he would leave Claire after the inheritance settled.
“She’ll blame herself,” he added. “She always does.”
That sentence hurt more deeply than the admission about money.
Arthur understood exactly how Claire processed pain.
He knew she searched for her own mistakes first.
He built the fraud around that instinct.
But the recording also destroyed his defense.
He had clearly described deceiving Claire before she inherited Hawthorne.
He admitted the marriage was part of the scheme.
Prosecutors added marital fraud and expanded conspiracy charges.
Arthur’s attorney withdrew from settlement discussions.
The case was heading to trial.
Samantha agreed to cooperate.
She admitted Arthur promised to marry her after gaining control of Hawthorne.
He told her Claire would be left with “enough money not to complain.”
Samantha had helped book meetings between Arthur and Richard but claimed she did not know about the medical fraud.
Her messages showed otherwise.
She once wrote:
Is the aunt stable enough to sign today?
Arthur answered:
Not yet. Brooke is adjusting the schedule.
The conspiracy was no longer a family dispute.
It was a structured criminal operation.
Arthur requested a meeting with Claire through attorneys.
He offered to reveal hidden accounts if she supported a reduced sentence.
Claire agreed to hear him.
Not because she planned to bargain.
May you like
Because she wanted to see whether he could speak without blaming someone else.
👉 Arthur believed his hidden money gave him leverage—but Claire had already found the account he thought nobody could trace.
