Chapter 7 - The Divided Family

Gideon Vale opened the door himself.

He wore a navy suit without a tie, as though inviting his daughter and son-in-law into his home at nine at night were a minor business inconvenience. Behind him, the Fifth Avenue townhouse glowed with warm lamps and old money.

His eyes moved from Victoria to Daniel.

“I said come alone.”

Victoria stepped past him.

“You said bring me. You got me.”

Gideon’s mouth tightened.

Daniel followed.

Eli and Sophia remained outside the building, exactly where Gideon expected them not to be. Two detectives waited in an unmarked car half a block away. The recording device inside Victoria’s necklace transmitted to all of them.

Gideon closed the door.

“You look tired, darling.”

Victoria did not turn around.

“You threatened Owen.”

“I warned you that actions have consequences.”

“That photograph was a threat.”

“Only if you insist on interpreting concern as hostility.”

Daniel said, “Where’s the ledger?”

Gideon looked at him as though noticing furniture.

“Still impatient beneath all that discipline.”

“Where is it?”

“In the library.”

Victoria walked there first.

The marble table from the photograph stood beneath a portrait of Eleanor Vale. The stolen ledger lay open at its center.

Daniel did not touch it.

Gideon poured himself a drink from a crystal decanter.

Victoria watched the glass in his hand.

Her father noticed.

“Ah. The famous glass.”

Daniel’s voice stayed calm. “You know about it.”

“The entire country knows about it. You held a gala. A journalist collapsed. Your wife was filmed moving your drink. It’s not exactly private.”

Victoria said, “That flute came from this house.”

Gideon smiled.

“Did it?”

“Set twenty-seven. Piece four.”

The smile faded by a fraction.

Daniel saw it.

“So you recognize the number.”

“Of course I recognize my own inventory system.”

“Who had access to the set?”

“Staff. Family. Caterers. Anyone clever enough to steal a glass.”

Victoria stepped closer.

“Did you put it at Daniel’s seat?”

“No.”

“Did you have someone else do it?”

“No.”

“Did you poison it?”

“No.”

The answers came too smoothly.

Daniel changed direction.

“Did you know my father was dismantling Northstar?”

Gideon took one measured sip.

“Yes.”

Victoria’s eyes flashed.

“Mom knew too.”

A pause.

“Yes.”

“She recorded you.”

That did it.

Gideon’s hand stopped halfway to the table.

Only for a second.

But the second was enough.

Daniel said, “You didn’t know about the recording.”

Gideon set down the glass.

“Your mother recorded everyone, Victoria. She became paranoid near the end.”

“She said Richard would die if he challenged you.”

“She said many things.”

“She died three days later.”

Gideon’s expression hardened.

“Do not turn your mother’s illness into theater.”

Victoria’s voice shook, but she did not retreat.

“What illness?”

“Fear.”

“No. You told us she had an aneurysm.”

“And the autopsy confirmed it.”

“An autopsy arranged by your physician.”

Gideon leaned forward.

“You were twenty-two. Grief has made you rewrite rooms you barely remember.”

Daniel stepped between them.

“Careful.”

Gideon’s eyes shifted to him.

“There. That heroic posture. Richard had it too, right before he destroyed half his life trying to become a decent man in one summer.”

Daniel went still.

“You admit he was trying to expose you.”

“I admit Richard developed a conscience after profiting from the same system he later condemned.”

“Did you kill him?”

“No.”

“Did you order someone to kill him?”

“No.”

“Did Northstar pay for his death?”

Gideon smiled faintly.

“That question is more intelligent.”

In the surveillance car, Detective Ross leaned closer to the receiver.

Sophia whispered, “Come on.”

Daniel held Gideon’s gaze.

“Answer it.”

“I don’t know.”

Victoria laughed in disbelief.

“You ran Northstar.”

“I managed funds. Funds move through people.”

“Coward.”

Gideon’s eyes snapped to her.

For the first time, the polished mask cracked.

“You should be very careful with that word.”

“Why? Will you photograph Owen again?”

“Your brother is alive because I have spent thirty years cleaning up after the sentimental mistakes of this family.”

Daniel heard the phrase.

“Sentimental mistakes.”

Gideon’s face closed again.

Daniel continued. “Like Richard helping Eleanor?”

Gideon said nothing.

“Like Paul Renner keeping records?”

Still nothing.

“Like Lucas Quinn surviving?”

Gideon’s eyes moved toward the window.

Victoria said, “You expected him to die.”

“No.”

“You did.”

“No.”

She stepped closer.

“Then why are you disappointed?”

Gideon slapped the table with his palm.

“Enough.”

The sound echoed through the library.

Victoria flinched.

Daniel saw it and hated Gideon for knowing he could still produce that reflex.

Gideon saw it too.

He softened immediately.

“Victoria.”

“Don’t.”

“I am trying to protect you.”

“From what?”

“Your husband.”

Daniel almost laughed.

Gideon opened the ledger and turned several pages.

“Daniel, ask your wife where she was on the first Tuesday of every month for the past two years.”

Victoria’s face changed.

Daniel looked at her.

Gideon continued.

“Ask her why confidential Mercer board documents reached my office before your own directors received them.”

Daniel said nothing.

“Ask her why I knew about your Rotterdam acquisition, your insurance reserve, your settlement strategy in the Harrow case.”

“Stop,” Victoria whispered.

Gideon’s voice became almost tender.

“Tell him.”

Daniel looked at his wife.

“Victoria?”

She closed her eyes.

The transmitter at her throat carried every breath to the car outside.

When she opened her eyes again, she looked only at Daniel.

“I gave him documents.”

Daniel’s face emptied.

“How long?”

“Twenty-two months.”

“What documents?”

“Board packets. Legal summaries. Risk reports.”

“Why?”

Gideon answered.

“Because she understands family.”

Victoria turned on him.

“Because you threatened Owen.”

Daniel’s eyes never left her.

“What did he say?”

“He showed me photos of Owen. His office. His apartment. The woman he was dating. He said people get hurt when powerful men become embarrassed.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I thought I could control what I gave him.”

“How?”

“I removed sensitive attachments. I delayed things. I gave him information he could mostly get elsewhere.”

Gideon laughed softly.

“She is minimizing.”

Victoria’s voice rose. “You used me.”

“You came willingly.”

“To protect my brother.”

“You also wanted answers about your mother.”

Daniel absorbed that.

“So you traded my company’s information for information about Eleanor.”

Victoria looked at him.

“Yes.”

The word was barely audible.

Daniel stepped back.

Pain moved across his face before he could hide it.

Gideon watched with satisfaction.

There it was—the divided family he expected.

Daniel let him see it.

He turned away from Victoria.

“You should have told me.”

“I know.”

“You endangered thousands of employees.”

“I know.”

“You lied to me for two years.”

“I know.”

Gideon poured another drink.

“Now you understand why Richard warned you about trust.”

Daniel looked toward him.

“Richard warned me about Sophia.”

Gideon’s hand tightened on the bottle.

Again, only for a second.

Victoria saw it this time.

Daniel continued, “Interesting, isn’t it? He knew someone would build evidence against her.”

Gideon set down the bottle.

“Richard distrusted everyone at the end.”

“Did he distrust you enough to leave a copy of the Northstar ledger at River House?”

Gideon’s expression sharpened.

“You found River House.”

Daniel smiled without warmth.

“You didn’t know.”

The room changed.

Gideon realized the ledger on his table had just become a confession of access.

He covered quickly.

“You brought that book here.”

“No.”

“Then perhaps Sophia did.”

Daniel laughed softly.

“Still framing her.”

Gideon’s jaw tightened.

In the car outside, Sophia whispered, “That was for me.”

Ross said, “Stay focused.”

Victoria looked at the ledger.

“If you didn’t know about River House, how did this get here?”

Gideon said nothing.

Then a voice came from the doorway.

“I brought it.”

Everyone turned.

A woman in her late fifties stood there wearing a black housekeeper’s uniform.

Victoria’s face went white.

“Nora?”

Nora Hale had worked in the Vale household since Victoria was twelve. She had held Victoria the night Eleanor died. She had mailed birthday cards to Owen long after he stopped visiting his father.

Gideon’s expression became furious.

“You were told to stay upstairs.”

Nora ignored him.

She looked at Victoria.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“I took the ledger from River House.”

Daniel stared.

“How did you know it was there?”

Nora’s eyes filled.

“Eleanor told me.”

Victoria took a step toward her.

“Mom knew about the safe?”

“Yes.”

“Why did you wait eleven years?”

“Because I was afraid.”

Gideon snapped, “Enough.”

Nora flinched but continued.

“I was the one who sent the photograph of Owen.”

Victoria stopped.

“What?”

“To frighten you into understanding that someone was watching him.”

“You made me think Dad sent it.”

“I needed you to take the danger seriously.”

Gideon moved toward her.

Daniel stepped between them.

“Don’t.”

Gideon’s voice turned lethal.

“This is my house.”

Daniel’s did not rise.

“And she is now a witness in a criminal investigation.”

Gideon looked toward Victoria’s necklace.

For the first time, he seemed to see it rather than her.

His eyes narrowed.

“You’re recording me.”

Victoria’s pulse jumped.

Daniel said, “We’re leaving.”

Gideon reached for the necklace.

Victoria stepped back.

The front door slammed open downstairs.

Ross’s voice echoed through the hall.

“Police. Nobody move.”

Gideon laughed once, disgusted.

“You think you won something?”

Ross entered with Delaney behind her.

Daniel looked at the ledger.

“We won custody of evidence.”

Gideon smiled.

“No. You won a book that proves Richard Mercer helped create every crime you’re accusing me of.”

Daniel held his gaze.

“Then my father’s name goes down with yours if that’s what the truth requires.”

Gideon’s smile disappeared.

That answer frightened him more than anger would have.

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Because Daniel had just removed the oldest protection powerful families possess.

The willingness to lie for the dead.