Chapter 7 - Victor Cole comes to the hospital
Victor did not arrive like a man afraid of police.
He arrived with an attorney.
Gray suit.
Silver hair.
Quiet confidence.
Sabrina’s father requested to speak with Emma.
She refused.
Then changed her mind after Detective Ortiz offered to remain in the room.
Victor stood near the door.
“I’m sorry for what Sabrina did.”
Emma stared.
“Are you?”
“Yes.”
“She nearly killed your grandchildren.”
Victor’s expression shifted.
“They are not my grandchildren.”
Emma understood the correction.
Ryan, not Sabrina, was connected to her babies.
Still, Victor’s reaction felt oddly personal.
“You knew my father was alive.”
Victor glanced toward Daniel, who stood beside Ortiz.
“I suspected.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
Victor continued:
“Daniel likes making himself the victim.”
Emma almost laughed.
“My father was officially dead for twenty-three years.”
“By choice.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“You burned that warehouse.”
Victor’s attorney objected.
Victor lifted one hand.
“I did not.”
“You paid Lorenz Industrial the week before.”
“For maintenance.”
“The emergency exit was chained.”
“I didn’t manage the building.”
Daniel’s anger rose.
Emma said:
“Stop.”
Both men looked at her.
“This is my room.”
Silence.
She turned to Victor.
“Why did Ryan need my signature?”
Victor smiled faintly.
“Ask your husband.”
“I’m asking you.”
“Because old business disputes can become very expensive when sentimental heirs refuse reasonable settlements.”
“Sentimental?”
“You inherited a company you never built.”
“My father built part of it.”
“And then abandoned it.”
Daniel’s fists tightened.
Emma continued:
“What happens when my twins are born?”
For the first time, Victor hesitated.
That was all she needed.
“You know.”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
“The trust changes.”
“How?”
“Your attorney can explain.”
“Why are you afraid to?”
“I’m not.”
“Then say it.”
Victor looked toward Hannah.
She answered instead.
“If the microfilm is authentic, the twins may activate a dormant voting block.”
Victor’s face hardened.
Emma turned.
“What voting block?”
Hannah explained.
Daniel’s patents had originally been held in a company called Bennett Safety Cooperative.
After his supposed death, Victor orchestrated a restructuring into Midwestern Rail Technologies.
Claire believed Daniel’s voting shares had been transferred fraudulently.
The old agreement apparently protected those shares for Daniel’s descendants.
But the relevant clause had been lost.
Until now.
“If the twins are recognized as Daniel’s grandchildren,” Hannah said, “ownership could revert.”
“How much?”
“Potentially twenty-six percent.”
Victor interrupted.
“This is fantasy.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Then why have you spent twenty-three years hiding the agreement?”
Victor laughed.
“I haven’t.”
Emma held up the microfilm copy.
“My mother thought you were.”
Victor’s expression changed at Claire’s name.
Something deeper than annoyance.
Fear.
Emma saw it.
“What did my mother take from you?”
Victor looked toward Daniel.
“She stole company records.”
“What records?”
“No longer relevant.”
“They mattered enough for you to call my father today.”
Victor’s attorney stepped closer.
“This interview is over.”
Victor turned to leave.
Emma said:
“Did you kill my mother?”
He stopped.
No one breathed.
Then Victor turned back.
“No.”
Not shocked.
Not offended.
Only direct.
Emma watched him.
“Did you know she was going to die?”
Victor’s face hardened.
“No.”
He left.
Daniel stared after him.
“He’s lying.”
Ortiz replied:
“About which part?”
Daniel had no answer.
That night Victor’s voluntary visit produced an unintended result.
Hospital security captured him calling someone in the parking garage.
Forensics later obtained audio from a nearby camera.
Victor said:
“She has Claire’s half.”
Unknown person:
“Then find the second.”
Victor:
“Daniel doesn’t have it.”
Unknown:
“How do you know?”
Victor looked around.
“Because Claire died with it.”
The other person answered:
“No.”
Victor froze.
Unknown voice:
“Claire gave it away before the crash.”
Victor whispered:
“To who?”
The recording ended before the answer.
Detective Ortiz replayed it twice.
Emma looked toward Daniel.
There was someone else.
Someone who knew Claire’s actions better than Victor did.
Someone Victor himself was asking for information.
May you like
The conspiracy around her parents might not end with him.
👉 Victor’s secret call revealed another person knew what Claire did before her death—and that person appeared to know more than Victor about the missing half of the ownership agreement.
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