Chapter 7 - The Scare
Daniel did not deny it.
That was worse.
Claire stared at him.
“You approved this?”
“No.”
“You heard the recording.”
“I approved a staged malfunction.”
Maya looked disgusted.
Daniel continued quickly.
“The chandelier was supposed to lower six inches.”
“A safety system would stop it.”
“No one was supposed to be in danger.”
Claire’s eyes filled.
“You wanted something weighing hundreds of pounds to move above your pregnant wife.”
“I wanted you to understand the risk of refusing protection.”
The words destroyed whatever defense remained.
Maya stepped closer.
“You created fear so she would sign.”
“I did not approve cutting the full cable.”
Claire looked at him.
“You were willing to terrify me.”
“For the company.”
“Our child was standing beneath it.”
His face collapsed.
“I thought the backup brake would hold.”
Maya pointed toward the severed cable.
“Someone disabled it.”
Daniel lowered his head.
Claire’s voice shook.
“You let your mother frighten me because you believed I was too emotional to control my own trust.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
She looked at Maya.
“And when the plan went wrong, you blamed the maid who saved us.”
Daniel could not answer.
The class prejudice was no longer hidden.
He had believed the wealthy people who arranged the danger deserved explanations.
The working woman beside Claire deserved a knife.
Then Maya found the payment record for the contractor who disabled the backup brake.
The money had not come from Evelyn.
Or Daniel.
It came from Hartwell Medical Properties.
May you like
Claire’s own company.
The authorization carried her father’s executive seal.
