Chapter 5 - The Price of a Child
At Simone's office, a wall of windows faced the courthouse. Daniel couldn't look at it without thinking how close Vanessa had come to making him sign away something he had never bothered to understand.
"She can't simply take the trust," Simone said. "Ruth is a second trustee, and any change requires review. But a forged emergency record could create confusion. Enough confusion to move money if nobody checks."
Ruth crossed her arms. "Or enough to make Daniel too ashamed to fight."
Simone slid a transaction list across the desk. Twenty-four payments had left one of Daniel's operating accounts over five weeks. Each went to Harbor Child Wellness, a company supposedly providing infant-care services.
"I didn't hire them."
"Your finance assistant approved the invoices because they used your private authorization code," Simone said.
The total was eighty-six thousand dollars.
Daniel's stomach tightened. His business account wasn't the child's trust. It was still real money, enough to pay a nurse for years or help families who had no one to call when a baby was sick.
"Who owns Harbor?"
Simone turned her laptop. A public business filing showed Owen Hale as the registered manager.
Vanessa's brother.
Daniel remembered Owen at the wedding, telling jokes with champagne in his hand. He remembered Owen offering to install a new smart-home system, free of charge. Daniel had declined. Vanessa had insisted it would make Noah safer.
"Did he touch the nursery camera?" Ruth asked.
"He set up the Wi-Fi extender," Daniel said.
Simone made a note. "We need records, not theories."
As they spoke, Daniel's phone lit up with a message from an unfamiliar number.
STOP DIGGING. YOU'LL LOSE THE BABY BEFORE YOU FIND THE MONEY.
May you like
A second message followed, this one containing a photograph of Daniel asleep at his office desk, Noah crying in the background.
Someone had taken it inside his home.
