Chapter 8 - The Memorandum Bianca Was Never Supposed to See
The Paris memorandum was in Charles’s private safe.
He admitted it before Damian asked twice.
They returned to the estate.
Charles sat in the study.
Bianca stood across from him.
Damian beside her.
Victor near the fireplace.
Theodore held the copied file.
Charles placed one document on the desk.
Dated nine years earlier.
Three weeks before Elena died.
Bianca read the first line.
Then looked at her father.
“You knew.”
Charles closed his eyes.
Damian took the page.
FROM: ELENA VALE.
TO: CHARLES LAURENT.
I BELIEVE MARCUS HALE IS USING THE OLD DIPLOMATIC NETWORK WITHOUT JULIAN’S KNOWLEDGE.
Damian stared.
“She warned you.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Marcus was operating.”
“I suspected.”
“You did nothing.”
Charles looked at Bianca.
“I contacted him.”
Damian’s expression hardened.
“You contacted Marcus?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To find out what he knew.”
Victor laughed bitterly.
“And you warned him.”
Charles said nothing.
Damian understood.
“You warned the man my mother was investigating.”
Charles’s voice broke.
“I did not know he would hurt her.”
“You gave him time.”
“Yes.”
Bianca looked at her father.
“You have spent my whole life calling everything protection.”
Charles looked at her.
“I was protecting you.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You were protecting the version of yourself you wanted me to believe.”
Silence.
Charles’s eyes filled.
Bianca continued.
“You lied about Victor.”
“Yes.”
“You hid his letters.”
“Yes.”
“You used my fear to keep Damian from asking questions.”
“Yes.”
“You allowed me to tell Victor his own son hated him.”
Charles lowered his head.
“Yes.”
Bianca wiped her face.
Then looked at Damian.
“I will testify.”
Charles looked up.
“Bianca.”
She turned.
“Do not ask me to choose you over the truth.”
He said nothing.
Damian looked at Charles.
“What else is in the memorandum?”
Charles opened a second page.
Elena had listed three account numbers.
One matched H-19.
Another belonged to Marcus.
The third.
Charles Laurent.
Damian stared.
“You were still receiving money.”
Charles whispered:
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“Consulting.”
Victor laughed.
Charles looked at him.
“Call it whatever you want.”
Damian did.
“Bribery.”
Charles nodded.
“Yes.”
Bianca stepped back.
Charles continued.
“Elena told me she would expose all of us.”
Damian’s eyes hardened.
“And?”
“I begged her to wait.”
“Why?”
“Because Bianca was twenty-four.”
Bianca stared.
“What does my age have to do with anything?”
Charles looked at her.
“The family trust transferred to you at twenty-five.”
She froze.
“What trust?”
Charles went still.
Damian saw it.
Bianca’s voice dropped.
“What trust?”
Charles opened a drawer.
A folder.
LAURENT FAMILY TRUST.
Bianca read.
Beneficiary:
BIANCA LAURENT.
Assets:
Several foundation companies.
Two of them appeared in Elena’s memorandum.
Bianca went pale.
“You put the accounts in my trust.”
Charles whispered:
“To move them away from Marcus.”
“No.”
Her voice shook.
“To hide them under me.”
“I planned to clean them.”
Damian looked at Victor.
Victor said nothing.
They had all used the same language.
Protect.
Clean.
Wait.
Later.
Charles continued.
“If Elena exposed the structure before Bianca turned twenty-five, Marcus could argue she was part of it.”
Bianca stared.
“So you delayed.”
“Yes.”
“And Elena died.”
“Yes.”
Silence.
Bianca closed the folder.
“I want the trust frozen.”
Charles looked at her.
“Bianca.”
“Now.”
“It contains legitimate assets too.”
“I do not care.”
He stared.
She repeated:
“Freeze it.”
Charles nodded slowly.
“I will.”
Damian looked at Theodore.
“Send everything to investigators.”
The old archivist nodded.
Victor stepped forward.
“Including my part.”
Damian looked at him.
Victor continued.
“No immunity games.”
“You already have an old deal.”
“I broke it.”
“Yes.”
“So I testify without asking what happens to me.”
Damian studied him.
“For me?”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
Damian waited.
Victor looked toward Elena’s letter.
“For your mother.”
That answer mattered more.
Then Bianca’s phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A photograph.
Marcus.
Standing beside a small private plane.
Holding the black case.
Message:
ONE HOUR.
BRING THE MEMORY CARD.
OR THE ORIGINAL FILE LEAVES THE COUNTRY.
Damian looked at Theodore.
The archivist smiled.
“Let it.”
Everyone stared.
“What?”
Theodore lifted the memory card.
“The copy is authenticated.”
Marcus’s threat no longer mattered.
Victor understood.
“He thinks the paper is still power.”
Damian nodded.
“Then let him believe it.”
Charles frowned.
“What are you going to do?”
Damian picked up his phone.
“Nothing.”
Bianca stared.
“Nothing?”
“Yes.”
He looked at her.
“For once, we stop running toward the man who wants everyone afraid.”
Damian called the investigators.
Gave them the airfield.
Then sat down.
Victor watched him.
“You are not going?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Damian looked at his father.
“Because I finally understand something you should have learned fourteen years ago.”
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