Samuel did not speak for several seconds.
Claire watched him closely.
“You know him.”
“Yes.”
Her voice was small.
“That's why I was afraid to say it.”
Samuel stood and walked to the kitchen window.
The person Claire had named was Victor Hale, Samuel's longtime business associate.
Victor had helped Samuel manage contracts after Martha died. He had handled paperwork, recommended accountants, and occasionally visited the Voss property when repairs or financial matters needed attention.
Samuel had trusted him.
Perhaps too much.
“Are you certain?” he asked.
Claire nodded.
“I heard Daniel speaking to him.”
“When?”
“Several times.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I didn't know what they were discussing.”
Samuel turned.
“And the money?”
“I found Victor's name on one of the transfers.”
Samuel looked toward the memory card.
“We need to see what's on this.”
Claire nodded.
They waited until dawn.
Samuel connected the card to his old computer.
Several folders appeared.
Bank records.
Scanned documents.
Photographs.
Audio files.
Claire leaned closer.
Samuel opened the first folder.
The dates went back nearly a year.
Transfers appeared in a sequence.
Money had moved from Samuel's account into the account associated with the house purchase. From there, portions had been transferred to a property company. Then to another account.
Victor's name appeared repeatedly.
Claire covered her mouth.
Samuel stared at the screen.
“How much?”
She read the figures.
Her face went pale.
“Almost all of it.”
Samuel leaned back.
For years he had believed the money had helped Claire build her marriage.
Instead, it had been used to finance a separate investment.
An investment Daniel had never disclosed.
Samuel opened the photographs.
They showed documents, property deeds, account statements.
Then one photograph made him stop.
It was a photograph of Daniel and Victor together outside a property office.
Warren stood beside them.
The date was eight months earlier.
Samuel looked at Claire.
“You took these?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel kept telling me I was imagining things.”
She swallowed.
“So I started writing everything down.”
Samuel looked at the audio files.
“Did you record them?”
“Some.”
He opened the first.
Daniel's voice filled the room.
The recording was muffled, but the words were clear enough.
He was talking about transferring another payment.
Then Warren spoke.
Then Victor.
Samuel listened without interrupting.
The three men discussed the property.
They discussed Samuel's money.
They discussed Claire.
At one point, Daniel said, “She won't leave.”
Samuel closed his eyes.
The sentence hurt more than he expected.
The next recording was worse.
Claire had confronted Daniel about the missing money.
He told her she had misunderstood the documents.
She insisted she had proof.
Then Warren entered.
His voice was calm.
He told Claire that if she accused Daniel, the family would make sure she regretted it.
Claire's breathing could be heard on the recording.
Then the recording ended.
Samuel removed his hand from the mouse.
Claire was crying silently.
“I should have left then.”
Samuel turned toward her.
“You left when you were ready.”
“I stayed because I thought I could fix it.”
“I know.”
“I kept thinking there was still a person inside him who loved me.”
Samuel did not offer a false answer.
He simply said, “Sometimes loving someone makes it harder to recognize what they're becoming.”
Claire looked at him.
“I was ashamed.”
“You don't need to be.”
She wiped her face.
Samuel opened another file.
This one was labeled with a date from three months earlier.
It contained a photograph of a bank transfer.
The recipient was not Victor.
It was Warren.
Samuel stared.
Claire frowned.
“That can't be right.”
“Why?”
“Because Warren told Daniel the money had been moved to Victor.”
Samuel looked again.
The transaction was real.
The amount was significant.
But there was another detail.
A second transfer had been made the same day.
From Warren's account to another account.
The account belonged to Margaret.
Claire stared at the screen.
“Why would Warren send money to her?”
Samuel did not know.
They opened the corresponding audio recording.
At first there was only static.
Then Margaret's voice.
“I won't lie for you anymore.”
Warren answered.
“You already have.”
“I did it because you told me Daniel would go to prison.”
“He won't.”
“You don't know that.”
“I know how to handle this.”
Margaret's voice trembled.
“And Claire?”
A pause.
“She knows too much.”
Samuel looked at Claire.
The recording continued.
Margaret said, “You promised nobody would hurt her.”
Warren replied, “Nobody is going to hurt her.”
Samuel stopped the recording.
Claire looked frightened.
“That was before tonight.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did Daniel hurt me?”
Samuel had no answer.
But the next file did.
It contained a recording from that night.
Daniel and Warren were arguing.
Warren accused Daniel of losing control.
Daniel said Claire had threatened to go to Samuel.
Warren told him to make sure she did not leave with the documents.
Then came the sound of something falling.
Claire gasped.
Samuel stopped the recording.
He did not need to hear more.
The truth was no longer uncertain.
Daniel had attacked her.
Warren had known.
And the money had been moved deliberately.
But one question remained.
Why had Margaret transferred money into her own account?
Claire asked it aloud.
Samuel opened the final folder.
Inside was a single scanned document.
It was dated six years earlier.
Samuel stared at the signature.
It was Martha's.
Claire leaned over.
“My mother?”
Samuel nodded.
The document revealed that Martha had established a protected savings account for Claire before she died.
The money had been intended to remain untouched unless Claire needed protection from financial abuse.
Samuel's hands began to shake.
He had never known the account existed.
Claire stared at him.
“Mom knew.”
Samuel looked at the document.
“She knew something might happen.”
A second page showed the account's instructions.
Only Claire could access it.
And Margaret had recently transferred money into it.
Not stolen money.
Money she had quietly set aside to help Claire escape.
Samuel finally understood the message.
Margaret had not been helping Warren.
She had been preparing a way out.
He looked at Claire.
“She was trying to protect you.”
Claire began to cry again.
Then Samuel noticed the final line of the document.
A handwritten note from Martha.
It contained only one sentence.
*If the day comes when you need this, choose yourself.**
Samuel closed his eyes.
For the first time that night, the pieces of the past and present seemed to meet.
But there was still one problem.
Victor had disappeared.
And the recordings showed he knew where the remaining money was.
Click Here to continue read next: PART7: Victor Returned Before Sunrise With One Last File, and His Confession Exposed the Reason Daniel Had Been Desperate to Silence Claire
At 2:17 in the Morning, Claire Appeared Barefoot on Her Father’s Porch, Carrying a Secret She Could No Longer Keep
Part 6 of 8
