Chương 6
Rebecca thought of his face when Emma said no. “I believe he would frighten her to punish me. I don’t know if he would hit her.”
“That distinction matters, and your honesty matters.” Maya opened a legal pad. “Do you have access to money in your own name?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know.”
Maya’s pen stopped.
Rebecca flushed. “There are trusts. Accounts. My father’s office handles most of it.”
“Your husband may argue that you are financially controlled by your father and that this conflict is part of that control.”
“He would be right about the first part.”
“Then we address it instead of pretending otherwise.”
For the next two hours, Maya asked questions Rebecca had avoided asking herself. Who paid household expenses? Trevor. Who received statements? Trevor. Did Rebecca sign tax returns? Electronically, when told. Did she have passwords? Some. Did she know whether Trevor had opened lines of credit in her name? No. Did he monitor her location? They shared locations as a family. Did he access her email? He knew one password. Had he ever threatened self-harm, harm to others, or reputational damage? He had told her that if she left, people would learn what she was really like.
“What did he mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you believe him?”
“Yes.”
Maya looked at her over the red frames. “What are you afraid he has?”
Rebecca’s face warmed.
“There was a period after Emma was born when I wasn’t well. I didn’t sleep. I drank more than I should have. Not while caring for her alone,” she added quickly. “We had a night nurse. But I sent messages. Angry ones. Confused ones. I once left the house at two in the morning and drove to a hotel because I thought everyone would be safer without me there.”
“Were you treated?”
“Yes. Therapy. Medication for several months.”
“Any diagnosis that affects your ability to parent now?”
“No.”
“Any current substance use problem?”
“No.”
“Then the truth is usually less dangerous than the secret.”
Rebecca heard Richard’s voice in the sentence and disliked it.
Maya noticed. “Usually,” she repeated. “Not always. That’s why we gather facts before we make declarations.”
She asked about the loan. Rebecca explained that she had received a tax notice through an online portal because a filing address did not match. When she searched county records, she found a lien against the estate connected to an entity called Alder Ridge Capital Partners. Trevor’s fund was called Hale Strategic Ventures. She did not recognize Alder Ridge.
She had emailed the Lawson family office asking whether it was one of her trusts. Trevor entered the upstairs sitting room twenty minutes later with a printed copy of the email.
“How would he get it?”
“He had access to my email.”
“Did he say the message was false?”
“He said the loan was temporary and I had already agreed.”
“Did you?”
“I don’t remember signing anything.”
“Did you sometimes sign without reading?”
“Yes.”
Maya did not scold her. That made the admission worse.
“We need an independent forensic accountant,” she said.
“My father has an entire department.”
“Independent means independent.”
“Right.”
Maya slid a tissue box toward her without comment.
By the time Rebecca returned to Richard’s house, a judge had issued a temporary order prohibiting Trevor from contacting her directly and granting her temporary exclusive use of the estate if she chose to return. Maya recommended that she not return yet. Arrangements for Emma would be addressed at a hearing the following week. The criminal charge remained separate.
Trevor posted bail before sunset.
At five twelve, a statement appeared online through his firm.
Mr. Hale denies the allegations arising from a private family medical incident. He is cooperating fully with authorities and remains focused on protecting his young daughter from unnecessary publicity.
The statement did not name Rebecca. It did not need to.
At five twenty, two news vans stopped outside Richard’s gate.
At five thirty-one, Lawson Group’s communications director called Richard.
At five forty, Richard broke his promise.
Rebecca found him in the library speaking to a senior editor at a national business publication. He ended the call when he saw her.
“You said you wouldn’t contact the press.”
“I did not contact them. They contacted me.”
“You answered.”
“He invoked Emma.”
“So you invoked the company?”
“I told them Lawson Group has no comment on a private family matter.”
“That is a comment.”
Richard stood behind his desk. “His fund is already suggesting I manufactured the arrest because he refused to sell me his interest in a technology company.”
“Did he refuse?”
“That is irrelevant.”
“Is it true?”
Richard looked toward the dark window.
Rebecca felt her stomach tighten. “What company?”
“A medical data platform.”
“Did you try to buy his interest?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
“Did you threaten him?”
“No.”
“Dad.”
“I told him continued access to Lawson financing depended on transparency. He refused to disclose his fund’s exposure. I withdrew from discussions.”
“That sounds like pressure.”
“It was business.”
“Everything is business when you don’t want to call it something else.”
Richard’s face hardened. “He is preparing to portray himself as the victim of a vindictive billionaire. I will not stand by while he uses my granddaughter as cover.”
“You’re helping him.”
“I am doing the opposite.”
“You’re proving his story. That you control everything. That I say what you want because I live in your house and use your lawyers.”
“Maya Chen is not my lawyer.”
“You found her.”
“She is excellent.”
“She is. That isn’t the point.”
“What is the point, Rebecca?”
“The point is that Trevor spent years making my choices for me, and now you’re trying to save me by doing the same thing faster.”
Richard went still.
The anger left his face so suddenly that she almost regretted the sentence.
He sat down.
“Your mother used to say that,” he said.
Rebecca had not expected him to mention her.
May you like
“What?”
“That I treated speed as a substitute for listening.”
