Chapter 17 - The Truth About Daniel’s Father
Daniel’s father, Charles Vale, had died twelve years earlier.
The official cause was a stroke.
Margaret inherited his shares and became chairwoman of Vale Biotech.
Daniel had always believed his father’s death was sudden but natural.
The recording shattered that belief.
Victor’s voice asked:
“Did Charles ever suspect the accounts?”
Margaret answered:
“He found one ledger.”
“And you handled it?”
“I changed his medication. By the time he tried to confront the board, he could barely speak.”
Daniel turned away from the tablet.
Claire saw pain cross his face deeper than anything he had shown inside the coffin.
Mason paused the audio.
“We are reopening your father’s case.”
Daniel pressed both hands over his face.
“My mother killed him.”
“We still need medical evidence,” Mason said. “But this recording gives us probable cause.”
Claire moved closer.
Daniel shook his head.
“I spent twelve years believing she was grieving.”
“She used that grief to control you,” Claire said.
“She told me my father’s last wish was for me to protect her.”
Margaret had built her power on Daniel’s guilt.
Every time he questioned her, she reminded him of the sacrifices she claimed to have made after Charles died.
Every time he defended Claire, Margaret accused him of abandoning his only remaining parent.
Now Daniel understood why she had never allowed an independent autopsy.
Mason explained that Charles’s archived medical samples still existed at the hospital.
Tests revealed traces of the same cardiac suppressant found in Daniel’s bloodstream.
By the following afternoon, prosecutors added a murder charge against Margaret.
News of the staged funeral and corporate conspiracy spread nationwide.
The videos recorded by relatives showed Margaret striking Claire, demanding the waiver, and ordering everyone to leave.
Vale Biotech’s stock was suspended.
The FDA halted the cardiac drug.
The board removed Margaret and Victor from every position.
But the public still had questions about Claire.
Anonymous accounts repeated Margaret’s old claims that Claire had married Daniel for money.
Some accused her of helping stage the funeral to seize the company.
Claire refused interviews.
She did not want fame.
She wanted the truth documented correctly.
Then Leonard arrived at the hospital with Daniel’s sealed will.
“There is a clause neither of you knows about,” he said.
Daniel frowned.
“I wrote the will.”
“You added the clause at my suggestion, but you never completed the final designation.”
Leonard placed a second envelope in Claire’s hands.
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“It can decide what happens to Vale Biotech.”
👉 Margaret had lost her freedom, but Claire now held the document that would determine whether the company survived or collapsed with her crimes.
