Chapter 6 - CAROLINE'S CHOICE
Daniel entered the Harbor Club with Maya, Rachel, Renee, and Ortiz.
Cameras turned.
Thomas smiled from the stage.
"Family disagreement should remain private."
"You filmed my baby in a trash bin."
Thomas's smile disappeared.
"This woman is trying to destroy our family with lies."
Caroline finally spoke.
"No."
"Dad, stop."
"Caroline."
She pulled a microdrive from her purse.
Margaret went white.
"You stupid girl."
"That's what you call me whenever I don't marry who you choose."
Caroline had been trapped in their plan too.
She handed the drive to Ortiz.
Thomas reached for it.
Agents blocked him.
The first video showed Julian Brooks—Arthur's secret son—sitting in his car near the marina.
"If something happens to me, Thomas Whitmore is laundering campaign money through Carter contractors."
Julian continued.
"Margaret knows. Preston Hale cleans the documents."
Then he said something no one expected.
"And Caroline is not part of it."
Julian had known Thomas planned to use his daughter to marry Daniel.
He wanted Caroline protected from her father too.
The second file showed Thomas and Margaret entering a hotel together.
Not a business meeting.
They kissed.
Date:
Eleven years earlier.
Then another clip.
Seven years earlier.
Then three years earlier.
A secret relationship spanning more than a decade.
For the first time, she looked afraid.
The family alliance was not only political.
It was personal.
Then Julian's final video began.
"If they cannot force Daniel and Caroline together, they will try to control the grandchildren."
Thomas whispered something to Margaret off camera.
The microphone caught it.
"Julian's child can never reach five."
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Lily was twenty-two months old.
Thomas had been planning around her death before she was born.
