The Payment for Vermont
Chapter 09 - The Payment for Vermont
The payment had not come from Vivian.
Not directly.
That was the kind of distinction Adrian’s lawyer repeated until everyone hated the sound of his voice.
The Vermont towing invoice was authorized through a family foundation account. Vivian signed the final transfer, but the original request had been submitted under Adrian’s executive credentials.
Adrian claimed Victor used them.
The server logs said the request came from Adrian’s laptop.
The device location placed it at the hunting lodge.
On the night Daniel died.
Naomi sat across from Adrian in a federal interview room while his attorney advised silence.
She was not supposed to be there. Agent Monroe allowed it because Adrian refused to speak unless Naomi listened.
That would once have felt like intimacy.
Now it felt like strategy.
“I met Victor at the lodge,” Adrian said. “Daniel called me earlier. He said he had proof my mother moved assets and that I was never legally entitled to the succession trust.”
“What did Victor want?”
“To stop him from giving the ledger to the board.”
“How?”
Adrian rubbed his hands together.
“He said he would scare him.”
Naomi’s body went cold.
“You paid Victor to threaten Daniel.”
“I paid Northgate for a recovery operation.”
“Do not use company language with me.”
His lawyer objected.
Naomi ignored him.
“Did you know Victor touched the motorcycle?”
“No.”
“Did you follow Daniel?”
“Yes.”
“Did you see the crash?”
Adrian’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
The room changed.
Naomi heard the air vent. A pen clicking in the observation room. Her own heartbeat, steady and distant.
“What did you do?”
Adrian swallowed.
“I stopped.”
“Was he alive?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you check?”
“I walked toward the barrier. I saw the bike below. Victor said the road was unstable. He said police were coming.”
“Did you call them?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
“A truck driver ten minutes later.”
Naomi stared at the man she had once trusted with her sleeping body, her finances, her family stories, her grief.
“You left my brother down there.”
Adrian began to cry.
Quietly.
He had always cried beautifully. Even his regret knew how to make itself the center of the room.
“I was afraid.”
“So was Daniel.”
“I didn’t cut the brakes.”
“But you paid the man who may have.”
“I thought Victor would take the ledger.”
“And if Daniel resisted?”
Adrian closed his eyes.
He had no answer.
Agent Monroe entered.
“Mr. Vale, you are being placed under arrest for conspiracy, obstruction, evidence tampering, and false statements. Additional charges remain under review.”
Adrian looked at Naomi.
“Please.”
One word.
The same word he used when he wanted her to smooth over board conflicts, forgive public humiliations, or make his mother stop sulking without requiring him to confront her.
Naomi stood.
“No.”
In the hallway, Sloane waited with Evelyn. Her left hand was bandaged. Her face was pale but steady.
She looked at Naomi.
“Did he admit it?”
“Yes.”
Sloane sat down slowly.
“I thought if he lied to you, it meant he loved me.”
Naomi understood the sentence more than she wanted to.
“Men like Adrian do not divide women into loved and unloved,” she said. “They divide us into useful and inconvenient.”
Sloane looked toward the interview room.
“What was I?”
“Useful. Until you opened the drive.”
Sloane nodded.
That truth hurt, but it did not confuse her.
Marcus arrived with news from the bank.
The safe-deposit box hidden in the Blackthorn model had been opened.
Inside was the second ledger Daniel died trying to protect.
There was also a sealed letter addressed to Naomi.
The handwriting was her grandmother’s.
Naomi opened it with shaking hands.
May you like
The first line read:
If Daniel is dead, Vivian has already chosen Adrian over truth.
