Chapter 6 - The Recording
Claire closed her fist around the memory card.
“No.”
Ethan took a step.
Jack took one too.
Ethan stopped.
Luis guided him back with a flat palm. “Sir, keep your distance.”
Margaret looked at Claire’s hand. “You have no idea what that contains.”
“Then you shouldn’t care if I see it.”
Charles, still pale, said from his chair, “Use my laptop.”
Margaret turned sharply. “Charles, enough.”
“No.” His voice strengthened. “Not enough.”
Dana brought the laptop from the study. Jack insisted they copy the card before opening anything. Dana used a clean reader from her incident kit.
The card held seven audio files.
No names. Just dates.
Claire stared at the oldest date.
“That was our anniversary.”
Jack clicked it.
At first, only room noise.
Ice in a glass.
A chair scraping.
Then Ethan’s voice.
“You sign when I tell you to sign.”
Claire went still.
Her own voice came next, smaller than Jack had ever heard it.
“I’m not signing a financial power of attorney.”
Margaret’s voice followed.
“Don’t call it that. Think of it as protection. You’re joining a family with real exposure.”
Claire looked at Margaret.
The recording continued.
Ethan: “Your father doesn’t understand wealth at this level.”
Claire: “My father has nothing to do with this.”
Margaret: “Good. Keep it that way.”
Jack stopped the audio.
The room felt colder.
Claire whispered, “I forgot that night.”
Ethan seized on it. “Because nothing happened. You were drinking. We were discussing estate planning.”
“I had one glass of wine.”
“Claire—”
“No.”
She backed away from him.
Charles covered his face with both hands.
Jack looked at the remaining files.
The newest recording had been made that morning.
He pressed play.
Ethan’s voice filled the foyer.
“Once she turns thirty, the foundation account opens to her signature. We don’t need her permission forever. We just need it once.”
A second voice answered.
Not Margaret.
Not Charles.
May you like
Jack knew that voice.
It belonged to Martin Shaw, the Mercer Foundation’s attorney.
