Chapter 9 - The Second Room
The second room contained no person.
Only files.
Insurance policies.
Unsigned death declarations.
Draft obituaries.
Private medical reports for employees and family members who had challenged Daniel.
Each file followed the same pattern.
Question their judgment.
Remove their access.
Offer a quiet settlement.
Threaten their reputation if they refused.
Leah found her own name.
Her file described her as financially desperate, emotionally attached to Claire and likely to fabricate accusations for money.
Daniel had prepared it before she heard the first knock.
He always planned to blame the maid.
Claire looked at him.
“You knew she might find me.”
“I knew staff become curious.”
“No.”
Leah held up the report.
“You knew no one would believe me.”
Daniel looked toward the guests.
Some had already believed him once.
At the beginning of the evening, they saw Claire’s portrait, Daniel’s black suit and Leah’s apron.
Their assumptions did the rest.
Arthur opened another folder.
It contained a settlement offering Claire one hundred million dollars if she surrendered her voting shares and entered permanent private treatment.
She had refused.
Daniel then prepared the memorial.
Claire asked:
“Did you ever plan to let me out?”
His face remained still.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“After the transfer.”
She closed her eyes.
He had not planned to kill her.
He planned something he considered cleaner.
Erase her authority.
Call her unstable.
Hide her where no investor would hear her.
Then return her to the world after everything she owned had changed hands.
The final file contained a current photograph of Eleanor Ashford.
Claire’s mother.
May you like
Alive.
Standing inside the mansion six days earlier.
