Chapter 15 - CHARLES LIED TO US
Charles came in with an attorney the next morning.
That answered one question before he spoke.
“Yes,” he said. “I met Victoria.”
Nathan looked furious.
“Why?”
“She asked.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Charles closed his eyes.
“She threatened to release the Mercer-account records publicly.”
“They’re already under review.”
“Not all of them.”
The room changed.
There was more.
Five years ago, Charles’s unauthorized transfer had not merely covered a cash shortage.
Part of the money had temporarily concealed losses in an investment fund.
Nathan’s father had invested personally.
Charles moved company cash to prevent margin calls from becoming public during the elder Cole’s final illness.
Nathan looked shattered.
“You used company funds to protect my father’s reputation.”
“Yes.”
“Did he know?”
“No.”
“Then whose reputation were you protecting?”
Charles had no answer.
Probably his own.
Victoria possessed emails proving it.
She offered him a deal.
Destroy his encrypted drive.
Withdraw cooperation.
Testify that I had demanded money.
In exchange, she would keep the old records hidden.
“Did you agree?” I asked.
“No.”
“Then why meet her?”
“Because I wanted to know what she had.”
Rebecca’s voice sharpened.
“You should have told us.”
“I know.”
There it was again.
Everyone knew after.
Charles had recorded the hotel meeting.
Legally.
The audio helped.
Victoria said:
If Grace survives this with credibility, Nathan destroys us.
Charles replied:
Us?
Victoria answered:
Don’t pretend you’re clean.
No murder admission.
But telling language.
Then Charles asked about Project Harbor.
Victoria said:
Daniel was supposed to scare her into leaving. I never approved anything beyond that.
That statement shifted our understanding.
Victoria claimed Daniel built the custody coercion plan.
Daniel had presented himself as merely representing his sister.
Each was beginning to blame the other.
Reward.
The opposition was cracking.
But Charles had compromised something crucial.
He gave Victoria one piece of information.
The location of an old Cole Meridian archive room containing original payment authorizations.
“Why?” Nathan demanded.
“She said she already knew.”
“And you confirmed it?”
Charles looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
By the time security checked, one storage box was missing.
Not all records.
One.
The box containing the original 2019 confidential-settlement approvals.
My fake settlement.
Surveillance invoices.
Daniel’s instructions.
Copies existed.
Originals mattered more.
Chain.
Ink.
Signatures.
Opportunity.
My mistake had warned Daniel.
Charles’s mistake had given Victoria a location.
Our evidence was being chipped away through human weakness.
Then the building’s loading-dock camera showed who removed the box.
Not Victoria.
Not Daniel.
Nathan’s longtime estate manager, Helen Price.
I had trusted Helen more than anyone in the mansion.
She was the woman who hired me.
Or so I thought.
When confronted, Helen vanished.
Her phone went dead.
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And Rebecca discovered Victoria had deposited $80,000 into Helen’s account three days before I was hired.
📖 The missing evidence box traced to Helen, the trusted estate manager who brought Grace into Nathan’s home and had secretly received $80,000 from Victoria. 👇
