Chapter 8 - Margaret’s Confession
Margaret’s confession lasted forty-eight minutes.
Daniel secretly recorded every second.
She admitted stealing from the foundation.
At first, she said, it had been to rescue Mercer Industries during a financial crisis Richard refused to acknowledge.
Then it became easier.
Money passed through charities.
Real estate investments generated enormous returns.
Politicians received donations.
Inspectors were paid.
Bankers looked away.
Jonathan Vale designed the system.
Margaret approved it.
Richard remained unaware for years.
Evelyn discovered it at twenty-three.
“She threatened to go to the police,” Margaret said.
“So Jonathan drugged her?”
Margaret covered her face.
“I didn’t know until afterward.”
“Do you expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
She lowered her hands.
“I expect you to hate me.”
“Did Jonathan kill her?”
“He gave her too many pills.”
“Accidentally?”
Margaret said nothing.
That was enough.
“Why didn’t you turn him in?”
“Because he had everything.”
“The money?”
“Documents. Recordings. My signatures.”
Margaret looked at Daniel.
“And he said if I spoke, he would make Evelyn look unstable and expose everything.”
“She was dead.”
“I had you.”
Daniel felt sick.
“You protected yourself.”
“I protected the family.”
“No.”
His voice turned cold.
“You protected the name.”
Margaret flinched.
Richard learned the truth years later.
He planned to dismantle the laundering network.
Jonathan panicked.
The night before the crash, he met Margaret privately.
“He said Richard was going to destroy all of us.”
“What did you tell him?”
“I told him to stop Richard.”
Daniel stared at her.
“Those exact words?”
“Yes.”
“What did you think he would do?”
Margaret began crying again.
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
“I swear—”
“You knew what kind of man he was.”
Margaret whispered:
“Yes.”
Silence filled the ballroom.
That was not legally the same as ordering murder.
Morally, Daniel could not see much difference.
“Why push Natalie?”
Margaret looked at the staircase.
“She told me she found the ledger.”
“And?”
“She said Richard had changed the trust.”
“Did he?”
Margaret’s gaze snapped back to him.
“What have you found?”
Daniel said nothing.
Margaret stood.
“Daniel.”
“You don’t own Mercer House.”
Her face went pale.
He continued.
“You may not own the company shares either.”
Margaret whispered:
“No.”
“Richard transferred control before he died.”
“To whom?”
Daniel watched her.
“Natalie.”
Margaret stumbled backward.
For fifteen years she had lied, manipulated, stolen, intimidated, and perhaps helped enable murder to preserve control.
And Richard had given that control to the woman she had framed.
The irony was almost cruel.
Margaret sat again.
“He knew.”
“Yes.”
“He knew I would come after her.”
“Yes.”
Margaret started laughing.
Quietly.
Brokenly.
“Richard always did enjoy complicated revenge.”
Daniel picked up the flash drive.
“What’s on this?”
“Accounts Jonathan still controls.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
That was a lie.
Daniel recognized it.
He moved toward the door.
Margaret called after him.
“Daniel.”
He stopped.
“If Jonathan realizes you have that drive, he will kill Natalie.”
Daniel turned.
Margaret looked more frightened than he had ever seen her.
“Because Richard didn’t only leave her the trust.”
“What else?”
Margaret swallowed.
“Evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why would Jonathan care?”
“Because Richard told him something before he died.”
Daniel waited.
Margaret whispered:
“If I die, Natalie gets the key to the grave.”
Daniel stared at her.
“What grave?”
“I never knew.”
Then the chandelier lights shut off.
Daniel heard glass break.
Margaret screamed.
A gunshot tore through the ballroom.
Daniel hit the floor.
When the emergency lights activated, Margaret was still alive.
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But the flash drive was gone.
And on the wall behind her, a bullet had shattered Richard Mercer’s portrait directly through the heart.
