Chapter 18 - The Family Meeting|
Peter agreed to meet the investigators at his attorney's office.
Marcus attended with Rachel. Paige remained at a separate location, listening only after the investigators confirmed that the recording could be lawfully shared with her as a witness.
Peter looked older than he had at the gala. His suit was immaculate, but his hands moved constantly, adjusting his cuff links and straightening papers that were already aligned.
When the recording was played, he closed his eyes.
“I was trying to protect the family,” he said.
Marcus leaned forward.
“From what?”
“From people who would have destroyed your father.”
“Thomas Ward?”
Peter's face tightened.
“Thomas was reckless. He didn't understand what he was exposing.”
“He was an accountant.”
“He was threatening to release confidential records.”
“Records showing money being moved through companies that didn't exist.”
Peter looked at the investigators.
“I didn't authorize any transfers.”
“Then why did Thomas ask you where the original documents were?”
“Because I knew where they had been stored.”
“Did you give that information to Victor Shaw?”
Peter hesitated.
“Yes.”
The admission landed heavily.
Peter explained that Richard Hale had established the foundation partly to protect legitimate business assets during periods of financial instability. Over time, Victor expanded the system, moving money through companies that obscured the true beneficiaries.
Peter had discovered the structure but convinced himself that exposing it would destroy the family and harm innocent employees.
He gave Victor access to Thomas's records because he believed Victor would retrieve the documents and resolve the matter privately.
“What happened to Thomas?” Marcus asked.
Peter's eyes filled.
“I don't know.”
“You gave Victor the location of the records.”
“Yes.”
“And Thomas died the next day.”
“I know.”
“Did you ask questions?”
Peter looked away.
“I was told it was an accident.”
“By Victor?”
“Yes.”
Marcus stood.
“You let him tell you that, and you never investigated?”
“I was afraid.”
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“So was Thomas. So was Celeste. So was my mother. And while everyone was afraid, you let Victor keep running the operation.”
Peter's face crumpled.
“I thought I could control it.”
“You couldn't even control your own fear.”
The investigators ended the interview when Peter became too distressed to continue.
His statements were significant, but they did not establish whether he had knowingly participated in a crime or merely concealed information. That determination would depend on corroborating evidence and legal review.
The next morning, the original Harbor ledger was recovered from a storage locker registered to Arthur Bell's former partner.
It contained handwritten notes identifying the final authority behind the Lantern structure.
The name was not Peter's.
It was not Victor's.
It was Richard Hale.
Marcus stared at the ledger.
“My father authorized the transfers.”
Rachel nodded.
“The ledger indicates he approved the original structure. But it also suggests that Victor later expanded it beyond the scope Richard intended.”
“Then my father started it.”
“Yes.”
“And Victor turned it into something worse.”
“That appears to be the working theory. Investigators will need to verify each transaction.”
Marcus sat down heavily.
His father had taught him that loyalty meant protecting the family at all costs. Now Marcus was learning that loyalty without honesty could become a weapon used against everyone outside the family—and eventually against the family itself.
Paige joined the meeting later that day.
Marcus showed her the ledger.
“I wanted my father to be better than this.”
“So did I.”
“He built hospitals. He funded scholarships. He helped people who had nowhere else to turn.”
“And he also made decisions that allowed other people to hide money and intimidate witnesses.”
Marcus looked at her.
“Can both things be true?”
“Yes,” Paige said. “But the good doesn't erase the harm.”
He nodded slowly.
“I think that's what I was afraid of.”
“What?”
“That if I admitted what he did, everything good about him would disappear.”
Paige softened, but only slightly.
“People aren't made innocent by the good things they do. And they're not made entirely evil by the worst thing they've done. But the truth has to include both.”
Marcus looked at the ledger again.
For the first time, he stopped trying to rescue his father's reputation.
He began helping investigators establish what had actually happened.
That evening, Celeste received a message from an unknown number.
You gave them the recording.
A second message followed.
You should have remembered what happened to your brother.
She forwarded both messages to Rachel.
May you like
Then she called Paige.
“I think Victor is preparing to disappear.”
