Chapter 14 - Clara’s Transfer
The amount was two hundred fifty thousand dollars.
Daniel stared at Clara.
“You transferred a quarter million dollars?”
“Yes.”
“From Carter Development?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“A protected escrow account.”
“Why?”
“To stop Richard moving it.”
Daniel stood.
“Without telling me?”
“Yes.”
Rebecca, on speakerphone, asked Clara to explain from the beginning.
Clara had discovered Rivergate discrepancies in November.
At first she suspected sloppy accounting.
Then she traced three payments scheduled for December.
Combined value: $250,000.
All to Oak Shield Consulting.
The supporting invoices were nearly identical.
“I believed the company was fake.”
“It was,” Daniel said.
“Yes.”
“So you intercepted the payments.”
“I asked accounts payable to place them on hold.”
“Under whose authority?”
“Yours.”
Daniel stared.
“You used my name.”
Clara looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“You were traveling.”
“You could have called.”
“I should have.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
Everyone in his family apparently loved protecting him from information.
“What happened next?”
“Accounts payable told Richard.”
“Of course.”
“He released the hold.”
“So you moved the funds?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I had access to a project contingency account because you had added me as authorized reviewer.”
“Reviewer, not signatory.”
Clara swallowed.
“The bank portal permissions were broader than you realized.”
Rebecca interrupted.
“That matters legally.”
“I know.”
Clara continued.
“I transferred the money into an attorney escrow account controlled by my friend Susan Park.”
Daniel knew Susan.
“She helped you?”
“She thought I was protecting disputed funds.”
“Did you tell her they belonged to Carter Development?”
“Yes.”
“So where is the money?”
“Still there.”
Daniel stopped.
“What?”
“Minus administrative fees.”
“You’re telling me Richard accused you of stealing money that has been sitting untouched in escrow for three years?”
“Yes.”
Daniel almost laughed with relief.
Then anger returned.
“You still moved it secretly.”
“Yes.”
“Clara.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
His voice rose.
Leo’s bedroom door opened.
Daniel immediately lowered his voice.
“Sorry.”
Leo disappeared again.
Clara’s eyes filled.
“I was scared.”
“Everyone was scared.”
Daniel paced.
“My mother lied because she was scared. You disappeared because you were scared. I let Richard run the company because I was broken and scared. Richard used every fear we handed him.”
Clara nodded.
“You’re right.”
Daniel stopped.
“I need the escrow documents.”
“I have copies.”
“Rebecca?”
“I’ll verify directly with Susan.”
Rebecca’s voice remained calm.
“If the funds are intact and the purpose is documented, Clara’s legal exposure may be limited, but the unauthorized transfer cannot be ignored.”
Clara nodded.
“I’m prepared for that.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You knew Richard could use it.”
“Yes.”
“That’s why you stayed gone.”
“Partly.”
“You thought I would believe you stole.”
Clara’s silence answered.
Daniel felt wounded.
“Did you think that little of me?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“Because Richard had documentation showing your authorization.”
“What?”
Clara removed another folded sheet from the envelope.
It showed Daniel instructing her to reroute the funds.
His signature.
Forged.
“I thought he was preparing to frame both of us.”
Daniel read it.
That changed the shape of her fear.
Not irrational.
Not completely.
Still devastating.
Rebecca said, “We need Susan immediately.”
Within an hour, Susan Park joined them by video.
She looked stunned seeing Clara.
Then cried for several minutes.
“You’re alive.”
Clara apologized.
Susan swore at her.
Then apologized for swearing.
Then cried again.
When she regained composure, she confirmed the money remained in an escrow account.
“I tried contacting Clara after the fire.”
Daniel asked, “Did police interview you?”
“Yes.”
“Brennan?”
“Yes.”
“What did you tell him?”
“That Clara had placed company funds in escrow because of suspected fraud.”
Daniel’s blood chilled.
“Brennan knew.”
“Absolutely.”
“And that wasn’t in the report.”
Susan frowned.
“It wasn’t?”
Rebecca answered, “No.”
The case against Brennan strengthened.
Susan continued.
“I gave him documents.”
“Do you still have copies?”
“Everything.”
Daniel almost laughed from relief.
Evidence Richard had failed to erase.
Clara looked at Daniel.
“I’m sorry.”
“For moving the money?”
“For not trusting you with the truth.”
Daniel sat.
“I don’t know how to forgive three years.”
“I’m not asking you today.”
“I don’t know how to understand why you didn’t come home.”
“I know.”
“I don’t know whether our marriage is still a marriage.”
Clara’s eyes filled.
“I know.”
Daniel hated hurting her.
But truth without permission to feel anger would become another lie.
Clara wiped her face.
“I don’t expect to walk back into the life you built after I vanished.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Our life.”
“Not entirely anymore.”
The sentence hurt because it was true.
Three years had changed both.
Leo remembered a mother.
Daniel remembered a wife.
The woman before him was also a survivor he barely knew.
His phone buzzed.
Maya Fields.
She had located Kelly Monroe.
Not in the city.
At the airport.
Kelly had attempted to board a flight to Toronto.
Investigators stopped her after discovering a material witness alert.
“She’s cooperating,” Fields said.
Daniel looked at Clara.
“With what?”
Fields paused.
“She says Richard told her Clara was alive eighteen months ago.”
Clara closed her eyes.
“And?”
“She says Richard paid her to monitor your family.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
Fields continued.
“But Kelly claims the surveillance wasn’t mainly about Clara.”
“What was it about?”
“Leo.”
Daniel went still.
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Fields answered.
“Richard needed to know whether your son could inherit voting control if something happened to you.”
