Chapter 5 - The Recording
Julian picked up the cassette with a trembling hand. Beside it was a cheap, portable tape recorder. Evelyn had left everything set up for him.
He pressed PLAY.
Static hissed through the tiny plastic speaker, followed by the muffled rustle of clothes. Then, two voices filled the quiet hallway.
“You shouldn't have come here, Margaret.” That was Thomas’s voice. Vibrant, young, alive. Julian felt a violent ache in his chest just hearing it.
“Take the check, Thomas,” Margaret’s recorded voice replied, cold and uncompromising. “Sign over the voting shares and leave the country. Clara will not receive a single cent from the Vance trust. If you marry her, you are dead to this family.”
“Clara is carrying your grandchild, Mom!” Thomas yelled on the tape. “She’s eight weeks pregnant! Does that mean nothing to you?”
Julian’s breath stopped. A baby? Thomas and Clara were having a baby?
A heavy silence lingered on the tape before Margaret spoke again, her tone chillingly devoid of emotion. “Then you better hope nothing happens to either of them on that mountain road, Thomas. Accidents happen so quickly in bad weather.”
“Are you threatening my family?”
“I am stating a fact. Sign the paper.”
The sound of a scuffle, a chair knocking over, and then the tape abruptly cut out to static.
Julian stood frozen in the hallway, his fingers digging into the plastic casing until it cracked.
"Julian?"
He slowly looked up. Margaret was coming down the grand staircase, wearing a fresh pair of heels, a glass of scotch in her hand. She noticed the tape player immediately.
"Where did you get that?" Margaret’s voice lost all its warmth.
Julian felt a burning hatred he had never experienced in his life. "Thomas had a child on the way. You knew Clara was pregnant."
Margaret didn't flinch. She took a slow sip of her drink. "Clara was a gold-digger. She faked the ultrasound. I had my team look into it."
"You threatened them," Julian said, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "Two days before Thomas’s car was run off the highway by an unidentified truck. And Clara... Clara didn't commit suicide, did she?"
Margaret set her glass down on the console table with a sharp clink. "Be very careful what you accuse me of, Julian. You are the CEO of Vance Logistics because of the sacrifices I made. If you start digging up graves, you will bury yourself along with them."
May you like
Before Julian could answer, the mansion’s front gates buzzed loudly. A security guard's voice crackled over the intercom:
"Mr. Vance, we have an issue at the south gate. Mrs. Vance is back... and she brought the District Attorney."
