Chapter 10 - Daphne’s VersionDaphne insisted Gavin had manipulated her.
Marlowe agreed to hear her once.
Only once.
They met at Evelyn’s office.
Daphne looked smaller without the mansion around her.
No jewelry.
No perfect hair.
No authority.
Just a forty-five-year-old woman facing her daughter.
“Arthur humiliated me,” Daphne began.
Marlowe’s expression hardened.
“This is not about Dad.”
“It started with him.”
“Everything starts with someone else when you tell it.”
Daphne looked down.
“Your father controlled the money.”
“He protected it.”
“He made me ask for everything.”
“Because you were hiding debts.”
Daphne flinched.
“I made investments.”
“You lost millions.”
“I was trying to build something of my own.”
Marlowe leaned back.
“Then Gavin appeared.”
Daphne nodded.
“He understood me.”
“While charging you.”
“Yes.”
“And sleeping with you.”
Daphne closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Then you introduced him to me.”
“I thought if he married you, he could help repair the family.”
Marlowe stared at her.
“That sentence is insane.”
“I know how it sounds.”
“No, Mom. You know how it was.”
Daphne began crying.
“I never thought he would hurt you.”
“You paid him to manipulate me.”
“I thought he would make you happy.”
“While helping you get my money.”
Daphne said nothing.
Marlowe lowered her voice.
“Did you love him?”
Daphne looked away.
That was answer enough.
“Do you still?”
“No.”
“Because he betrayed me?”
Daphne laughed bitterly.
“Because he betrayed me too.”
Marlowe felt disgust.
Daphne continued.
“After Arthur died, Gavin changed. He wanted more information. More influence. He started talking like Hale Development could be his.”
“And you kept feeding him information.”
“I thought I needed him.”
“For what?”
“To undo what your father did.”
Marlowe’s jaw tightened.
“What Dad did was make sure I could say no to you.”
Daphne’s face crumpled.
“That’s not fair.”
“It was exactly fair.”
Silence.
Then Marlowe asked the question she had avoided.
“When did the affair restart?”
Daphne wiped her face.
“Eight months ago.”
“Why?”
“I was scared.”
“Of what?”
“Gavin said he might tell you everything.”
Marlowe blinked.
“He blackmailed you?”
“Not directly.”
“Explain.”
“He said if I stopped cooperating with the coastal deal, he would ‘stop protecting the history.’”
Marlowe understood.
The original affair.
The setup.
Daphne had been trapped by her own betrayal.
“And sleeping with him kept him quiet?”
“I thought it did.”
Marlowe stood and walked to the window.
For years Daphne had been the strongest person Marlowe knew.
Beautiful.
Commanding.
Certain.
Now Marlowe saw the truth.
Daphne was not strong.
She was terrified of losing control.
That fear had made her controllable.
Daphne whispered, “I’m sorry.”
Marlowe turned.
“Stop saying that.”
“What else can I say?”
“The truth.”
“I’m trying.”
“No. The truth is you didn’t do this because Dad hurt you. You did it because you believed you deserved access to anything that belonged to someone you loved.”
Daphne stared.
“Dad’s money.”
“His company.”
“My house.”
“My marriage.”
“And when one door closed, you found another way in.”
Daphne began crying again.
Marlowe did not comfort her.
As the meeting ended, Daphne reached into her handbag.
“I have something else.”
She placed a small envelope on the table.
Inside was a hotel receipt.
Gavin’s name.
A woman’s name Marlowe did not recognize.
The date was two months earlier.
Marlowe looked up.
May you like
Daphne said quietly, “I wasn’t the only one.”
The betrayal had just widened again.
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