Chapter 10 - HAROLD’S CONFESSIONHarold survived.
Barely.
Doctors stabilized him.
Police suspected the overdose was staged.
So did I.
His “confession” contained details only the killer would know.
But one sentence bothered Rachel.
“Why implicate Daniel if Harold intends to take full responsibility?”
To destroy him.
Or because it was true.
Harold eventually woke.
Detectives questioned him.
He refused attorneys at first.
Then demanded one person.
Me.
I almost refused.
Then went.
Harold looked small in the hospital bed.
Nothing like the polished attorney from my wedding planning meetings.
He smiled.
“Claire.”
I stayed near the door.
“Did you kill my father?”
“Yes.”
No hesitation.
My chest tightened.
“How?”
“I altered one medication capsule.”
“Why?”
“To delay him.”
“Delay?”
“I expected hospitalization.”
“You killed him.”
“That was not the intention.”
I laughed bitterly.
“The family motto.”
His smile vanished.
“Daniel did not know about the medication.”
I stared.
“Your note said he knew everything.”
“I wanted police to believe that.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel betrayed me.”
“When?”
“He decided not to transfer your assets.”
I blinked.
“What?”
Harold explained.
Three weeks before the wedding, Daniel told him he wanted to abandon the plan.
But Bennett Hospitality deteriorated faster than expected.
Margaret pressured him.
The bank deadline arrived.
Daniel changed his mind.
Again.
“So he was willing to steal from me.”
“Yes.”
“But not kill Dad.”
“No.”
I hated how relieved part of me felt.
Harold noticed.
“That’s dangerous.”
“What?”
“Wanting him to be less guilty.”
I stared.
He was right.
I hated him for being right.
Then I asked:
“Why Allison?”
“She was useful.”
“Margaret?”
“Useful.”
“Rachel?”
“Annoying.”
Despite myself, I almost laughed.
Then:
“Who owns Grayson Capital?”
“Allison.”
“Who controls Bennett Hospitality’s hidden debt?”
Harold smiled.
“There’s the question.”
“What?”
“Everyone keeps thinking the company is failing.”
“It is.”
“No.”
He leaned slightly forward.
“Someone is making it look like it is.”
My pulse quickened.
“Who?”
“Daniel’s father.”
I stared.
“Robert Bennett is dead.”
Harold smiled.
“Is he?”
Silence.
Daniel’s father supposedly died nine years earlier in a boating accident.
No body was recovered.
Margaret had inherited his family trust rights.
Daniel became CEO.
Harold whispered:
“Robert Bennett has been moving debt through offshore entities ever since.”
My skin went cold.
“Why?”
“To force a collapse.”
“Of his own company?”
“So he could buy it back privately for pennies.”
“Through what company?”
Harold smiled.
“Grayson Capital.”
I stared.
“But Allison owns Grayson.”
“She thinks she does.”
He laughed softly.
“The beneficial ownership chain ends with Robert Bennett.”
Everything shifted again.
Allison had been trying to buy the company.
But someone had funded her without revealing himself.
Daniel’s supposedly dead father.
I left the hospital.
Daniel was waiting.
I told him.
He went completely still.
“My father is dead.”
“Harold says otherwise.”
“He lies.”
“Yes.”
“So?”
“So did everyone else.”
Daniel looked toward Margaret.
She had been released pending charges.
Her face had gone white.
Daniel saw it.
“Mom.”
She shook her head.
“Don’t.”
Daniel stared.
“You know.”
Margaret began crying.
May you like
And then she whispered:
“Your father never died.”
