Chapter 6 - What Elena Knew“Why?”
Cameron put the call on speaker.
Victor did not object.
“Because Elena’s letter named people.”
“What people?”
“You should ask Geraldine.”
“I’m asking you.”
Victor sighed.
“Henry discovered that I moved company money.”
Adam’s eyes narrowed.
“At least you admit it.”
“Who is that?”
“Adam Pierce.”
Victor laughed without humor.
“Henry’s new favorite accountant.”
Cameron cut him off.
“What did Elena know?”
“She knew Geraldine was involved.”
Cameron closed his eyes.
“Involved how?”
“She approved transfers.”
“For herself?”
“At first, no.”
Victor explained that years earlier, Geraldine had quietly financed several failing real-estate investments without Henry’s knowledge.
Victor had helped move company funds temporarily to cover her losses.
The arrangement was supposed to last ninety days.
It lasted seven years.
The losses grew.
Then Geraldine realized Henry did not monitor every subsidiary closely.
“She started treating gaps in the books like loans,” Victor said.
“Loans she never repaid.”
“Some were repaid.”
“From where?”
Victor did not answer.
Adam said, “From new transfers.”
Cameron understood.
A cycle.
Move money.
Cover the old gap with new money.
Hide the difference.
“Why did you help her?”
Victor’s voice hardened.
“Because I was stealing too.”
At least that answer sounded true.
“What did Elena discover?”
“She was helping Henry organize family paperwork after his stroke. She found invoices with identical vendor addresses.”
Cameron remembered Elena sitting at the kitchen island late at night surrounded by folders.
He had kissed her forehead and told her she worried too much.
The memory made him sick.
“Elena confronted my mother?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t know.”
“Victor.”
“I swear.”
Cameron looked at Rachel.
She wrote something on a pad.
Ask about letter.
“Why was Elena afraid I wouldn’t believe her?”
Victor’s silence answered first.
Finally he said, “Because Geraldine had spent your whole life making sure you trusted her version of reality more than anyone else’s.”
The sentence hit harder than Cameron expected.
Victor continued.
“Elena wrote everything down after you two had a fight.”
“What fight?”
“About your mother.”
Cameron remembered.
Elena had wanted to remove Geraldine as emergency contact for Savannah’s school and as an authorized person on several family accounts.
Cameron had refused.
He had accused Elena of being unfair.
Three days later, Elena apologized.
Cameron had believed the issue was finished.
Apparently, it had only gone underground.
“What was in the letter?”
“She described the transfers. She also wrote that Geraldine had begun telling people you were emotionally unstable after Henry’s death.”
Cameron stared at Rachel.
The false psychiatric records had roots going back years.
“She was building that story while Elena was alive.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Victor paused.
“But Elena believed Geraldine wanted leverage over you.”
“Leverage for what?”
“To keep the family assets under her control.”
Cameron looked at Henry’s trust amendment.
“Did my father know?”
“Eventually.”
“Then why didn’t he remove her immediately?”
“Because he was sick. Because he loved her. Because he thought he could force her to repay everything quietly.”
Victor’s voice became bitter.
“Henry believed public scandal would destroy the family.”
Rachel muttered, “Family secrecy protecting financial abuse. That tracks.”
Cameron ignored her.
“Where are you?”
Victor hesitated.
“At the Greenwich house.”
“The one purchased with trust money?”
This time Victor was silent.
“You live in a house my daughter paid for.”
“It wasn’t supposed to be permanent.”
Cameron laughed once.
A hard sound.
“Nothing was, apparently.”
Victor suddenly lowered his voice.
“Listen to me. Geraldine knows the audit will expose GVR. But money is not the only thing she’s trying to hide.”
“What else?”
“Elena made copies.”
“Of what?”
“Everything.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“She never trusted me.”
“Smart woman.”
Victor did not respond.
Cameron asked, “Why call me now?”
“Because Geraldine is scared.”
“She should be.”
“No. You don’t understand Geraldine when she is cornered.”
Cameron looked toward the basement stairs.
“I’m beginning to.”
Victor took a breath.
“Yesterday she asked me to say that you threatened me.”
“What?”
“She wants another affidavit.”
“For the guardianship case.”
“Yes.”
“Did you agree?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Victor gave a tired laugh.
“Because I’ve spent six years being a coward, Cameron.”
For the first time, he sounded old.
“And because your daughter is eight.”
The call ended with Victor agreeing to meet Rachel the next morning.
Cameron returned upstairs.
Savannah sat on the sofa drawing with Luz.
She looked up.
“Are you mad?”
“At you?”
She nodded.
“Never for telling the truth.”
Savannah considered that.
Then she reached into her pocket.
“I forgot.”
She handed him a folded piece of paper.
“I took this from the red folder before Grandma came in.”
Cameron opened it.
A photocopy of an old bank deposit slip.
The amount was $250,000.
The account name stopped him.
ELENA VALE — RESTRICTED ESCROW ACCOUNT
Cameron stared.
His wife had apparently received a quarter of a million dollars shortly before her death.
He had never known the account existed.
May you like
On the back, Elena had written one sentence.
If Geraldine says this was hush money, ask her why she was the one who deposited it.
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