Chapter 11 - Robert Feared Someone Much Closer
Eleanor refused to say the name until they returned home.
Daniel nearly lost patience.
Then she explained why.
“Robert thought the house was monitored.”
Claire looked around the library.
“Was it?”
Michael brought in a private security team.
Within an hour, they found two old listening devices inside Robert’s study.
Daniel stared at them.
His father had been right.
Eleanor opened a locked drawer.
Inside was Robert’s medical journal.
He had documented headaches, nausea, dizziness, and irregular heart rhythms during the final months of his life.
Beside several entries he had written one name.
M.G.
Daniel looked at Michael.
Michael went white.
“No.”
Daniel said nothing.
Michael stepped backward.
“Daniel, no.”
Claire took the journal.
One entry read:
M.G. brought supplements again. Symptoms worse after dinner.
Michael stared.
“I gave him vitamins.”
Eleanor’s face hardened.
“Robert thought you were poisoning him.”
Michael looked devastated.
“I loved him.”
Daniel’s voice was quiet.
“Did you?”
Michael stared at his oldest friend.
“Yes.”
Daniel wanted to believe him.
He had wanted to believe too many people.
Claire continued reading.
The later entries changed.
M.G. may not know. Someone is replacing capsules.
Daniel looked up.
Michael stopped breathing.
Robert had eventually suspected Michael was being used.
“Who had access to the supplements?” Claire asked.
Michael rubbed his face.
“My assistant ordered them.”
“Who was your assistant?”
He answered.
“Lily.”
Silence.
Michael shook his head immediately.
“No.”
Daniel agreed.
Lily had been barely twenty-two.
Claire looked deeper into the journal.
Then found another line.
L found bottle open in office. Says J.P. visited before meeting.
Jonathan.
Daniel exhaled.
Robert had suspected Jonathan tampered with the capsules.
The same man now accused of manipulating Sophie’s trust.
Federal investigators tested preserved samples from Robert’s belongings.
Results would take time.
But Jonathan’s motive was obvious.
Robert was closing in.
Daniel sat alone later that night.
Claire found him in Sophie’s nursery.
He was holding his daughter.
“She almost fell because of all this.”
Claire sat beside him.
“Yes.”
“I spent my whole life thinking money protected people.”
“It protects people from some things.”
“Not family.”
“No.”
Daniel looked at Sophie.
“What do we do with the trust?”
Claire understood.
“Whatever keeps her from growing up believing it defines her.”
He nodded.
The door opened.
Lily stood there.
Her face was pale.
“I need to tell you something.”
Daniel stood.
“What?”
“Jonathan didn’t work alone.”
Claire’s expression tightened.
Lily held up her phone.
“I found messages from the person who gave him the balcony access code.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Who?”
Lily swallowed.
May you like
“Someone in this house.”
And the number belonged to Eleanor.
