The Heiress Camille Threw Into the Pool

Sophie stared at the photograph on Victor Hale's phone.

Her father sat in the back of a dark vehicle, his wrists bound behind him. A strip of blood marked his temple. His eyes were open, and although his face was bruised, he appeared conscious.

Victor watched her study the image.

“Now you understand why I asked you to cooperate.””

Sophie forced herself to look away from the screen.

“Where is he?””

“Somewhere safe.””

“You tied him up and put him in a car. Don't insult me by calling that safe.””

Victor's smile disappeared.

“Your father has spent twelve years hiding information that could destroy several powerful people. I need the original financial records. He knows where they are, but he refuses to tell me.””

Richard Laurent stepped forward.

“You've gone completely mad.””

Victor turned toward him.

“Careful, Richard. You're not exactly in a position to lecture anyone about morality.””

“I never kidnapped Adrian.””

“No. You simply helped him bury the truth about Eleanor.””

Richard's face tightened.

Sophie watched them, trying to understand the shifting alliances. Richard had spent the evening at his estate insisting he was innocent. Victor had presented himself as her protector. Now both men were standing in Margaret Whitmore's garden, each accusing the other of participating in her mother's death.

She needed something neither man could control.

Evidence.

“Victor,” she said calmly, “if all you want is the original account, why not tell us where it is?””

“Because I don't know where it is.””

“Then how do you expect me to give it to you?””

“Your mother left clues. The notebook contains one of them. Your father has another. Together, they will lead us to the original records.””

Sophie glanced down at Margaret's notebook.

“And if I give you this?””

“You'll receive proof that your father is alive. Then we can negotiate his release.””

“You expect me to trust a man who kidnapped his own employer?””

Victor's jaw tightened.

“I worked for Adrian for twenty years. I helped build the company you now expect to inherit. I sacrificed my life to protect his family.””

“By threatening to let him die?””

“By making certain he finally tells the truth.””

Margaret stepped forward.

“Eleanor trusted you.””

Victor looked at her.

“Eleanor trusted too many people.””

“And you repaid her by arranging her death?””

His expression hardened.

“I didn't arrange the accident.””

Richard laughed bitterly.

“No. You arranged the meeting that put her on that road.””

Victor turned so sharply that Margaret recoiled.

“You have no idea what happened that night.””

“Then explain it,” Sophie demanded.

For the first time, Victor looked genuinely uncertain.

Sophie seized the moment.

“My mother was traveling to Ashcombe House. You knew where she was going. You knew what she had discovered.

You knew my father was hiding the financial records. Yet you're telling me you had nothing to do with her death.””

“I'm telling you I didn't kill her.””

“That's not the same thing.””

Victor said nothing.

Sophie slowly removed the notebook from beneath her coat.

“Here is my offer. You tell me where my father is, and you give me proof that he's alive. I will arrange for an independent investigator to review the financial records. If you're telling the truth, the evidence will protect you.””

Victor stared at the notebook.

“You think this is a negotiation?””

“No. I think you need me more than I need you.””

His eyes narrowed.

Sophie continued.

“If you kill my father, you lose the only person who can identify the original account. If you kill me, you lose access to the acquisition documents and the evidence my mother left behind. And if you kill everyone who knows about the account, you still won't know where the money went.””

Richard looked at her with reluctant admiration.

Victor, however, seemed to be calculating something else.

“You've become very confident,” he said.

“I've become very tired of men explaining why their lies are necessary.””

She held out the notebook.

Victor reached for it.

At the last second, Sophie pulled it back.

“Proof first.””

He stared at her, then tapped his phone.

A video appeared.

Adrian sat in a dimly lit room, his hands still bound. A man stood behind him, holding a gun.

“Dad?”” Sophie whispered.

Adrian lifted his head.

“Sophie, don't give him anything.””

The man behind him struck him across the face.

Sophie flinched.

Victor ended the video.

“Your father has always been stubborn. You have exactly one hour to bring me the original financial records. If you fail, the next video won't be as pleasant.””

Richard lunged toward Victor.

“You son of a—”

Two security officers seized Richard's arms.

Victor stepped backward.

“Keep them here.””

He turned toward Sophie.

“And Sophie? Don't call the police. I have people watching every entrance to this property.””

He walked toward the driveway.

Sophie watched his car disappear into the darkness.

Then she turned to Richard.

“You said you knew what happened to my mother. Start talking.””

Richard rubbed his wrists.

“I told you what I know.””

“No. You told me Victor arranged the meeting. You haven't explained why my father paid you nearly five million dollars.””

Richard looked at Margaret.

She shook her head.

“Tell her,” she said.

Richard lowered his eyes.

“The payment was meant to secure a document.””

“What document?””

“A statement signed by Eleanor.””

Sophie felt her stomach twist.

“What did it say?””

“That she had discovered the missing funds were being diverted through an account controlled by someone inside Morel Héritage. She intended to name that person publicly.””

“Who?””

Richard looked directly at her.

“Your father believed it was Victor. I believed it was someone else.””

“Who?””

Richard hesitated.

“Me.””

Margaret gasped.

Sophie stared at him.

“You're admitting you stole the money?””

“No. I'm admitting I thought the evidence pointed to me. I found transfers made under my company's name, and when Eleanor confronted me, I discovered someone had used my signature to authorize them.””

“Why didn't you go to the police?””

“Because I was afraid. I had a company full of employees, debts I couldn't repay, and a father who had spent his life building the Laurent name. I convinced myself I could solve it privately.””

“And you paid my father?””

“Adrian offered to settle the dispute and protect both companies while we investigated. I accepted. It was the worst decision I ever made.””

Sophie studied his face.

“Why did you keep Camille out of it?””

Richard's expression broke.

“I didn't. That's what I regret most.””

He explained that Camille had grown up surrounded by wealth funded partly by loans and assets whose origins he had never properly examined. When she became old enough to work for Laurent Estates, he gave her an executive position and shielded her from the company's financial problems.

“She knew the company was in trouble,” Richard said.

“But she didn't know why.””

Sophie remembered Daniel's account of Camille's argument with her father.

I never asked you to use her money to build my life.

“What did Camille mean by that?””

Richard looked away.

“Eleanor had established a private trust for her children. Some of the missing money passed through that trust before it disappeared. Camille discovered the transactions and believed I had stolen from someone who was already dead.””

“Was she right?””

“I don't know.””

Sophie looked down at her phone.

She had forty-eight minutes left.

“Where is Ashcombe House?””

Richard gave her the address.

“Why?””

“Because that's where Eleanor intended to meet Victor. If the original records still exist, that's where we'll find them.””

Margaret took Sophie's hand.

“You can't go there alone.””

“I won't.””

Sophie called Daniel.

When he answered, she spoke quickly.

“Daniel, I need you to do three things. First, contact an attorney outside Morel Héritage. Second, send every record you have of Victor's meetings with Richard. Third, find Camille Laurent.””

“Camille? Why?””

“Because she may know where the original account is hidden.””

Daniel hesitated.

“Miss Morel, there's something you should know. Camille left the estate an hour ago. She took a company car and hasn't answered her phone.””

Sophie looked toward the driveway.

“Did she say where she was going?””

“No. But security footage shows her heading north.””

Toward Ashcombe House.

Sophie ended the call.

Richard had gone pale.

“She knows.””

“Knows what?””