Chapter 5 - The Price of an Accident
Mark read the clause three times.
"My father put that in?"
Daniel shook his head. "No. It was added in the same amendment you signed six months ago."
"So she slipped two changes into one document."
"It appears that way."
Elena stood at the far end of the dining room, one hand over her mouth.
Mark looked toward the ceiling, as though Clara might somehow hear the conversation from the playroom upstairs.
"If she dies, Victoria controls the shares?"
"Temporarily. Long enough to vote in a sale, merger, or restructuring."
"How much are those shares worth?"
Daniel hesitated.
"At current private valuation? Around eighty-six million dollars."
Elena's stomach turned.
Mark pushed away from the table so suddenly his chair fell backward.
"Call the police."
"They already have the trust documents," Daniel said. "But motive isn't proof of attempted murder."
"She held my daughter over a staircase."
"And Elena saw it. Clara described it. That matters. But Victoria's lawyer is already claiming a domestic employee with financial motives influenced a toddler."
Mark's eyes went to Elena.
"Financial motives?"
Daniel opened another envelope.
Inside was a copy of a wire transfer request for $200,000 to an account under Elena's name.
Elena stared.
"That's not mine."
"I know," Daniel said. "The bank says the account was opened online three days ago."
Mark's face hardened.
"She was framing Elena before this happened."
"Or someone was."
Elena thought about the scheduled camera deletion.
About Victoria making Clara rehearse lies.
About the file hidden in the nursery.
This had not started yesterday.
Her phone buzzed in her apron pocket.
Unknown number.
She almost ignored it.
Then a photo loaded.
Her younger brother Mateo was leaving his welding shop in Waukegan.
A second image showed him getting into his truck.
The message beneath it contained six words.
YOU SAW NOTHING. LEAVE THE HOUSE.
Elena's hand began shaking.
Mark noticed.
"What is it?"
She turned the screen toward him.
Daniel swore under his breath.
Mark immediately called Ruiz.
May you like
Before the detective answered, another message arrived.
This one was a picture of Elena herself, taken through the Mercer kitchen window less than one minute earlier.
