Chapter 18 - The Deal Daniel WantedDaniel looked smaller behind jail glass.
Not weaker.
Just contained.
Noah sat across from him with Detective Sloane standing behind his chair. Claire had begged him not to go. He went anyway because some questions poison you until you face the person who planted them.
Daniel picked up the phone.
Noah did the same.
“You look like your father,” Daniel said.
Noah’s hand tightened around the receiver.
“Don’t say that like you knew him.”
“I did know him.”
“You killed him?”
Daniel smiled. “Careful. Accusations need proof.”
“We have his tapes.”
That erased the smile.
Only for a second.
Then Daniel recovered. “Michael was stubborn. Stubborn men create accidents.”
Noah felt Sloane’s hand settle on his shoulder. A warning.
Daniel leaned closer to the glass.
“Your father wanted to expose powerful people. Your mother wanted to save her foundation. I offered a compromise.”
“You were there?”
“I was young. Ambitious. Working for men who understood money better than morality.”
“And years later you targeted my mother.”
“Claire was unfinished business.”
Noah’s voice dropped. “You put her in a coffin.”
Daniel’s eyes sharpened. “And you made her a martyr. That was inconvenient.”
“What do you want?”
Daniel sat back. “Protection.”
“From prison?”
“From the people above me.”
Noah laughed bitterly. “Now you’re scared?”
Daniel’s expression darkened. “You think I’m the top of this? I was a knife. Knives don’t choose the hand.”
Sloane took the phone from Noah.
“Give us names.”
Daniel looked past her at the mirror, knowing people watched.
Then he said one.
“Senator William Graves.”
Everyone behind the glass reacted.
Daniel smiled.
“There are judges. hospital executives. charity boards. But Graves built the network. He funded Claire. He ordered Michael handled. And when Claire found the current transfers, he told me to solve it permanently.”
Noah heard only one word.
Handled.
His father had been handled.
Daniel continued, “I’ll testify if Claire signs over the foundation archives and Noah gives me Michael’s original tapes.”
Noah stood.
“No deal.”
Daniel’s smile returned.
“Then your mother goes down with the rest of us.”
Noah leaned to the glass.
“She already climbed out of one box you put her in.”
May you like
His voice was quiet.
“You’re never putting her in another.”
