Chapter 5 - The Sinclair HouseVictoria was at the Sinclair townhouse on East Seventy-First Street.
Daniel knew because her phone had connected to the home's Wi-Fi seconds before the call ended.
Police reached the address first.
Daniel did not go.
Every instinct urged him to.
Marcus stopped him.
“You're emotionally involved, and Preston already claims you're targeting his family.”
“So?”
“So don't give him a photograph of you kicking down his door.”
Daniel hated when Marcus was right.
They waited at Hayes Meridian.
Twenty-three minutes.
Thirty-one.
Forty.
Finally, Samuel's phone rang.
“She's safe.”
Daniel exhaled.
“Preston?”
“Also there. Cooperative.”
“Too cooperative?”
Samuel gave him a look.
“Exactly.”
Police found no weapon, no signs of violence, no evidence that Victoria had been restrained.
Preston claimed he had merely come home and startled his daughter.
Victoria then did something Daniel hadn't expected.
She denied being afraid.
“She told police everything was fine?” Daniel asked.
“Yes.”
“After telling me her father might have killed Grant?”
“Yes.”
Daniel sank into his chair.
Marcus said, “She changed her story.”
“Why?”
Samuel answered. “Could be fear.”
“Or she's playing us.”
“Also possible.”
At midnight, another development arrived.
Grant Mercer wasn't dead.
A Massachusetts state trooper found him walking beside Route 7, twenty-six miles from the lake house.
He had a cut on his forehead, a fractured wrist, and hypothermia.
Someone had attacked him at the house.
Grant escaped through the woods.
By sunrise, he was in protective custody.
And he was talking.
The first major story broke Monday afternoon.
Federal investigators had begun reviewing financial transactions connected to Sinclair Urban Partners.
Daniel's company issued a narrow statement confirming its financing affiliate had suspended funding pending investigation.
Nothing more.
Victoria issued no statement.
Preston appeared outside his office smiling.
“Routine review,” he told reporters.
The smile vanished when someone asked about Grant.
“I have no comment about disgruntled former contractors.”
Grant wasn't former.
Not yet.
By Tuesday, he was.
Armitage Construction fired him.
That proved to be a mistake.
Grant's attorney released a statement:
Mr. Mercer has provided information to law enforcement concerning suspected financial fraud, retaliation, and an assault that occurred after he attempted to preserve evidence.
Preston's stock holdings took a beating.
Lenders froze credit lines.
Three Sinclair development partners requested independent audits.
Daniel spent the morning fielding calls from nervous investors.
At noon, Victoria appeared at Hayes Meridian headquarters without an appointment.
Security called Daniel.
“Send her up.”
Marcus frowned.
“Are you sure?”
“No.”
Victoria entered five minutes later.
No red dress.
No diamonds.
No entourage.
She wore black pants, a gray sweater, and flats.
For the first time since Daniel had met her, she looked ordinary.
She also looked exhausted.
Daniel remained behind his desk.
“What do you want?”
“To apologize.”
“Maya isn't here.”
“To you.”
Daniel said nothing.
Victoria swallowed.
“I was cruel.”
“Yes.”
“I've been cruel for a long time.”
“Yes.”
Her eyes filled.
He felt nothing.
That surprised him.
“I don't expect forgiveness.”
“Good.”
She flinched.
“I deserved that.”
“You keep saying you deserve things after you've already done what you wanted.”
Victoria lowered her head.
Daniel continued.
“You humiliated employees because you thought they couldn't fight back. You threatened Maya. You attacked me. Then when you discovered who I was, suddenly you became afraid of consequences.”
“I was afraid before.”
“Not of hurting people.”
“No.”
At least that answer was truthful.
She sat without being invited.
“My father raised me to believe there are two kinds of people. People who matter and people who work for them.”
Daniel stared.
“That doesn't excuse anything.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
She looked at him.
“The worst part is that I loved you.”
Daniel almost answered.
She shook her head.
“I know how stupid that sounds.”
“It doesn't sound stupid. It sounds irrelevant.”
Her face tightened.
“If you loved me,” Daniel said, “you still believed I deserved less respect when you thought I had less money.”
Victoria wiped a tear.
“Yes.”
That was the first apology he believed.
Not because it fixed anything.
Because she stopped defending herself.
“I came for another reason,” she said.
Daniel waited.
“I have documents.”
“What documents?”
“Copies of everything I gave Grant.”
Daniel pressed the intercom.
“Marcus.”
Within two minutes, counsel joined them.
Victoria placed a flash drive on the desk.
Daniel stared at it.
“This is another copy?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't your father destroy it?”
“He didn't know it existed.”
“Where was it?”
“In my apartment.”
Marcus took the drive but did not insert it.
“We'll have forensics handle it.”
Victoria nodded.
“There are invoices, emails, contracts, bank transfers.”
“How long have you known?”
“About the fraud? Six weeks.”
“About your company being used?”
“A year.”
Daniel stared.
“You signed false invoices for a year?”
“I signed documents my father gave me.”
“Without reading them?”
“At first.”
“And later?”
Victoria looked ashamed.
“Later I knew something was wrong.”
“So why continue?”
“Because he threatened me.”
“With what?”
She looked toward Marcus.
“My trust.”
Daniel understood.
The Sinclair fortune wasn't as stable as people believed, but Victoria still expected a massive inheritance.
“My father controls a trust established by my grandfather. He said if I caused trouble, I'd lose everything.”
Daniel leaned back.
“So you chose money.”
“Yes.”
No excuses.
Again.
“And Grant?”
“Grant told me people could go to prison.”
“They can.”
“I panicked.”
“Then you helped him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Victoria hesitated.
“Because I saw something.”
“What?”
“One of the subcontractors went bankrupt.”
Daniel knew the case.
A small excavation business in New Jersey had collapsed despite working on several Sinclair projects.
Victoria continued.
“The owner was sixty-two. He lost his company, his house, everything. He had borrowed money because my father's company delayed payments while claiming invoices had already been paid.”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“And the invoices?”
“Fake. They recorded payments to substitute vendors connected to Northstar.”
“How many companies?”
“I don't know. Maybe dozens.”
Marcus immediately left to contact investigators.
Daniel looked at Victoria.
“And the attack on Grant?”
“I don't know who did it.”
“Did your father?”
“I don't know.”
“Did he order it?”
“I don't know.”
“Victoria.”
She stood suddenly.
“You think I'm protecting him?”
“I think you've protected yourself before.”
“I'm giving you everything!”
“You're giving it now.”
That stopped her.
Daniel stood too.
“You had evidence six weeks ago.”
“I was scared.”
“So was Maya when she stood up for me.”
Victoria recoiled.
Daniel continued.
“She thought you could destroy her job. She thought your family could destroy her mother's medical care. She still told the truth.”
“I know.”
“No. I don't think you do.”
Victoria covered her mouth.
For a moment Daniel remembered the woman who had once sat beside him eating cheap pizza on the floor of his apartment, laughing because sauce had fallen onto her sleeve.
He had loved that version of her.
Maybe that woman had existed.
Maybe people weren't simply good or evil.
Maybe Victoria could feel tenderness and still choose cruelty.
That made everything harder, not easier.
“You should cooperate with law enforcement,” he said.
“I will.”
“And Maya?”
Victoria nodded.
“I owe her an apology.”
“She doesn't owe you the chance to give one.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
“I know.”
She walked toward the door.
“Victoria.”
She turned.
“If your father contacts you about the investigation, don't handle it alone.”
Hope flashed in her eyes.
Daniel immediately corrected it.
“This isn't about us.”
The hope disappeared.
“I understand.”
After she left, Daniel found Maya downstairs in the employee café.
She had returned to work after refusing Daniel's offer of paid leave.
“I'm not hiding at home because somebody sent me a scary text,” she'd said.
Daniel sat across from her.
“Victoria came.”
Maya stopped eating.
“Am I fired again?”
He smiled.
“No.”
“What did she want?”
“To give us evidence.”
Maya studied his face.
“You feel sorry for her.”
Daniel considered lying.
“Yes.”
“You still love her?”
“No.”
Maya nodded.
“You can feel sorry for someone without letting them hurt you again.”
Daniel looked at her.
“That sounds like experience.”
“My father.”
She didn't elaborate.
Daniel didn't ask.
Maya pushed half her sandwich toward him.
“You look terrible.”
“Thank you.”
“You've eaten?”
“Coffee.”
“That isn't food.”
“You sound like Marcus.”
“Marcus is right.”
Daniel reluctantly took the sandwich.
Maya smiled.
For the first time since the gala, everything felt almost normal.
Then her phone buzzed.
She checked it.
Her smile disappeared.
“What's wrong?”
“My mom.”
Daniel stood.
“What happened?”
“She isn't at the clinic.”
“What?”
Maya called immediately.
No answer.
Security called the clinic.
Rosa Torres had been discharged forty minutes earlier.
“By whom?” Maya demanded.
The security officer listened.
Then his face changed.
“Mrs. Torres signed herself out.”
Maya looked confused.
“She wouldn't.”
Daniel's phone rang.
Private number.
He answered.
Preston Sinclair's voice greeted him.
“Daniel.”
Every muscle in Daniel's body tightened.
“Where is Rosa?”
Preston laughed softly.
“I have no idea.”
“Then why are you calling?”
“To make you an offer.”
“No.”
“You haven't heard it.”
“I don't need to.”
“You will.”
Daniel put the call on speaker.
Preston continued.
“Restore the Brooklyn financing. Tell your lawyers the investigation was triggered by unreliable information. In exchange, certain misunderstandings disappear.”
Maya went pale.
Daniel's voice became dangerously quiet.
“Are you threatening Maya's mother?”
“Of course not.”
“Then say where she is.”
“I told you. I don't know.”
“You called thirty seconds after we discovered she's missing.”
“Coincidence.”
Daniel wanted to break something.
Instead, he looked at Maya.
She was terrified.
He forced himself to stay calm.
“What misunderstandings disappear?”
Preston said, “Ask your little maid what her mother did fifteen years ago.”
Maya froze.
“What?”
Preston laughed.
“You don't know?”
“Know what?”
“Maya,” Daniel said, “don't engage.”
Too late.
Preston continued.
“Your mother used another name before Torres.”
Maya's face drained.
“She has always been Rosa Torres.”
“Has she?”
The call ended.
Maya looked at Daniel.
“What is he talking about?”
Daniel didn't know.
Samuel was already searching.
Ten minutes later he found something.
A woman named Rosa Alvarez.
Same birth date.
Same photograph.
Fifteen years earlier, she had been employed as a bookkeeper.
By Sinclair Development.
Maya stared at the screen.
“My mother worked for them?”
Apparently.
But that wasn't all.
Rosa Alvarez had been charged with embezzling $180,000.
The charges were eventually dropped.
Then she disappeared from public records.
Maya shook her head.
“She never told me.”
Daniel looked at the date.
The prosecutor had dismissed the case after evidence went missing.
He felt cold.
“Where was your mother working when you said she was fired from the hotel three years ago?”
Maya answered automatically.
“The Fairmont Essex.”
“Before that?”
“Different hotels.”
“And before that?”
“I don't know. I was a kid.”
Daniel looked at Samuel.
“Find Rosa.”
Samuel nodded.
Maya grabbed her coat.
“I'm coming.”
“No.”
“Daniel—”
“That's not me ordering you around. That's me telling you we may be walking into something dangerous.”
“She is my mother.”
He looked at her.
There was no argument that could defeat those four words.
“All right.”
Forty-five minutes later, Samuel received a location from Rosa's phone.
Queens.
Not abandoned warehouse.
Not dark alley.
A church.
They arrived to find Rosa sitting alone in the third pew.
Maya ran to her.
“Mom!”
Rosa stood and caught her daughter.
“Why did you leave the clinic?”
Rosa looked past her.
At Daniel.
Recognition appeared immediately.
“You're Thomas Hayes's son.”
Daniel stopped.
Thomas Hayes.
His father.
“You knew my father?”
Rosa's eyes filled with tears.
“Yes.”
Daniel's heart began pounding.
“How?”
Rosa sat slowly.
May you like
“Because your father was the reason I didn't go to prison for something Preston Sinclair did.”
And suddenly the story Daniel thought had begun at the gala reached fifteen years into the past.
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