Chương 7
Victor studied a burn mark on the wooden tabletop. “How are you?”
“Married.”
He looked up.
“That was a joke,” Claire said. “A bad one.”
“I understood.”
“You didn’t smile.”
“I’m trying not to split my lip.”
For a moment, she saw the father who had once let her paint his toenails blue because she was seven and bored during a thunderstorm. Then he adjusted his cuff, and the moment closed.
“I read the documents,” Claire said.
Victor nodded.
“The original trust barely gave me control.”
“It gave you substantial control.”
“Over ten years.”
“You’ve never run a hotel.”
“Neither had Adrian until you hired him.”
“He had relevant experience.”
“So do I.”
“You work in the foundation.”
“I run the foundation.”
“You run grants and conservation programs.”
“I manage forty employees and an eight-million-dollar budget.”
Victor’s mouth tightened. “That’s not the same as overseeing debt across five hotels.”
“No. It’s the part of the family business you decided was appropriate for me.”
“I didn’t decide that.”
“You offered it.”
“You accepted.”
“Because every time I asked about operations, you said I should learn patience.”
“You were twenty-four.”
“I’m twenty-eight now.”
“You could have asked again.”
Claire stared at him. “You built a trust controlling the rest of my life without asking what I wanted.”
“It was intended to protect you.”
“Adrian said the same thing.”
Victor flinched.
“Different method,” Claire continued. “Same sentence.”
He looked toward the window. Jenna’s neighbor had managed to start the mower. The engine rattled loudly beyond the fence.
“I should have spoken to you before drafting it,” Victor said.
Claire waited for the defense that usually followed.
None came.
He folded his hands. “I believed you would choose the marriage over any concern I raised.”
“You made sure those were the choices.”
“Yes.”
The admission left them both uncomfortable.
Claire asked, “Why did you distrust him?”
Victor’s gaze returned to her. “At first? Because he was too interested in the business.”
“You hired him into it.”
“I wanted to see how he behaved near money.”
“That’s a terrible reason to hire someone.”
“It was.”
“What did he do?”
“He performed well. Better than I expected. He found waste. Renegotiated debt. Made people feel seen.”
“He does that.”
“He also bypassed reporting lines, cultivated board members privately, and asked questions about ownership documents he didn’t need to see.”
“Questions aren’t fraud.”
“No.”
“When did you know?”
“I still don’t know everything.”
“When did you suspect?”
Victor rubbed one thumb across the other. “Six months ago, an invoice from Mesa Grand was approved twice under different vendor names. The payments went to accounts controlled by the same registered agent. Naomi traced one company to Adrian’s college roommate. Another to Cross Meridian.”
“Why didn’t you fire him?”
“He would have denied it. We needed records.”
“You could have told me.”
“I was afraid you would warn him.”
“I might have.”
“I know.”
Claire stood and opened the grocery bag. She removed the pie, soup, crackers, and a container of sliced lemons.
“You brought lemons?”
“Rosa says they help.”
“With betrayal?”
“With soup.”
She put them in the refrigerator.
“Did you ever like him?” she asked.
Victor considered the question seriously. “Yes.”
“When?”
“When he convinced the bank not to call the Mesa loan. When he stayed at the hospital with Luis after the elevator accident. When he repaired the old generator himself because the maintenance crew was trapped by snow.”
“He can be good.”
“Yes.”
Claire closed the refrigerator.
“That makes it worse,” she said.
“Yes.”
Victor’s eyes moved to the ring on her hand. “You don’t have to decide everything now.”
“You decided everything before I knew there was a decision.”
“I’m trying not to do that again.”
“Trying?”
“I’m not skilled at it.”
The mower outside stopped abruptly. In the quiet that followed, Claire heard Jenna opening and closing a cabinet in the living room for no reason.
“Why does Adrian hate you?” Claire asked.
Victor leaned back.
“He doesn’t just want the estate,” she said. “He wanted you removed. He wrote it down.”
Victor’s attention sharpened. “You found notes?”
“My attorney has them.”
“What do they say?”
“I’m not giving you evidence.”
A trace of irritation crossed his face, followed by reluctant approval.
“Good,” he said.
“Don’t be proud of me right now.”
“I wasn’t.”
“You were.”
He touched his swollen lip. “There may be history you don’t know.”
“What history?”
Victor looked at the table again. “Adrian’s father owned land east of Red Mesa.”
“I know. He lost it.”
“To my company.”
Claire sat slowly.
Victor continued. “In 2008, Daniel Cross had three hundred acres and a failing motel near the highway. He borrowed against both to expand. The recession hit. He defaulted.”
“You bought the note.”
“Yes.”
“And foreclosed.”
“Yes.”
“Adrian told me a bank took it.”
“A bank did. Then sold the debt to us.”
“Did you know it was his family?”
“Not then.”
“When did you find out?”
“After you started dating.”
Claire stared at him. “And you never told me.”
“It was a legal transaction.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Victor’s jaw shifted, a sign he had run out of answers he respected.
“What happened to his father?” she asked.
“He moved to Nevada. Died two years later.”
“How?”
“Heart attack.”
“Adrian was what, seventeen?”
“Eighteen.”
“His mother said they lived in a motel for six months.”
Victor nodded.
“Was that your motel?”
“It became mine.”
The kitchen seemed suddenly too small for him.
“Did you evict them?”
“The foreclosure process did.”
“People hide behind process when they like the result.”
Victor’s blue-gray eyes rose to hers. She had used one of his own sentences against him. He recognized it.
“I offered Daniel a management position,” he said.
“After taking the property?”
“Yes.”
“How generous.”
“He refused.”
“Of course he refused.”
May you like
“He also threatened me with a tire iron.”
Claire looked at the fading bruise on Victor’s lip. “Maybe men keep wanting to hit you because you call cruelty business.”
