Chapter 6 - Paige’s Phone
Paige Morgan chose a café in White Plains.
She arrived twenty minutes early.
Daniel’s cousin.
Thirty one.
Quiet.
Always fashionable.
Always half afraid of Lorraine.
She held her coffee with both hands.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“I should’ve stopped him.”
“You called police.”
“After.”
“You recorded.”
“Because I thought they were gossiping.”
She looked ashamed.
“Not because I knew.”
“That still matters.”
Then she played the first clip.
Lorraine and Daniel near Arthur’s study.
Lorraine:
Tonight.
Daniel:
Not with everyone here.
Lorraine:
That’s why. If she makes a scene, everyone sees how unstable she is.
My stomach tightened.
Daniel:
She’ll just leave.
Lorraine:
Good.
Then:
Before she gets Arthur’s things.
Daniel:
She doesn’t know anything.
Lorraine:
Arthur gave her something.
Daniel:
What?
Lorraine:
I saw him put it in her hand.
The brass key.
Then another clip.
Daniel:
Could’ve been jewelry.
Lorraine:
Arthur never did anything without a reason.
Then:
Make her leave tonight.
The sentence already captured partially.
Now context.
Then Paige continued recording after I left.
Daniel:
She’ll come back.
Lorraine:
Search the bedroom.
Daniel:
Mom.
Lorraine:
Now.
Daniel:
What are we looking for?
Lorraine:
A key.
Daniel:
To what?
Lorraine:
Arthur’s travel box.
They knew the box.
Not contents.
Then:
Daniel:
Where is it?
Lorraine:
If I knew, we wouldn’t be doing this.
Then another voice.
Aunt Marlene entering.
Conversation stops.
Paige kept recording.
Later.
Lorraine shredding.
Daniel:
Why are you doing that now? There are people everywhere.
Lorraine:
Because Nora left.
Daniel:
That’s exactly why you don’t.
Lorraine:
Arthur’s dead. Stop being afraid of him.
Daniel:
If the box is gone, we’re fine.
Lorraine:
Then find it.
That line.
If box is gone, fine.
They understood whatever Arthur left could expose them.
Then Paige cried.
“My mother told me to delete everything.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“She said family doesn’t send family to prison.”
I looked at her.
“What did you say?”
“That you were family too.”
That hurt unexpectedly.
Paige looked down.
“Lorraine never treated you like it.”
No.
Then one more recording.
Lorraine at the table before dinner.
Talking to her sister.
“She thinks she’s Arthur now.”
Sister:
Nora?
Lorraine:
Walking around with papers. Correcting Daniel. Telling me what trust says.
Then:
If she had given Arthur a son instead of marrying mine, maybe he’d have left her the whole company.
The cruelty sounded ridiculous.
But underneath:
Jealousy.
Ownership.
Then Paige handed original files to investigators.
Metadata intact.
No editing.
Then Lorraine called her after rumors of cooperation.
“If you love this family, delete those videos.”
Paige had recorded that too.
Possible witness tampering.
Lorraine’s lawyer told her to stop contact.
She finally did.
Then Daniel’s assault case.
Prosecutor offered misdemeanor assault plea with probation, intervention program, protective order.
No jail recommendation given injuries and no prior record.
Daniel refused.
He insisted he had only “guided” me because I became hysterical.
Paige’s video showed hair pulling.
No ambiguity.
His refusal was not strategy.
Pride.
Then the company leak.
Headline:
CFO INHERITS MILLIONS AS HUSBAND FACES FRAUD QUESTIONS.
The article implied I might be influencing the investigation.
I refused interview.
At work, employees whispered.
The board asked whether I wanted public leave extended.
“No.”
I returned.
First town hall.
Someone asked:
“Did Daniel steal?”
“I can’t answer pending investigation.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
Direct.
“Are auditors reviewing you too?”
“Yes.”
Then:
“Good.”
I said it before anyone else could.
Good.
If my controls failed, I wanted to know.
Then another employee asked:
“Why didn’t you notice?”
That one hurt.
Because I was CFO.
I answered:
“Some irregularities were routed through systems designed to look ordinary.”
Then:
“And we had control failures.”
No excuse.
Then:
“I own my part of fixing them.”
That mattered.
Then IT changes.
No delegated approvals without expiration.
Hardware tokens surrendered directly to IT.
Related party ownership verification.
Aggregate transaction thresholds.
Independent treasury confirmation.
No family override.
Then the board chair, Susan Keating, said privately:
“You know Daniel’s defense will say you changed controls because you were responsible.”
“I know.”
“Does that bother you?”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
“We change them anyway.”
Control improvements are not confessions.
Then she handed me Arthur’s employee ownership proposal.
“He wanted this voted after probate.”
Forty two percent.
Employees.
I realized something.
May you like
Daniel and Lorraine spent months fighting over a company Arthur had already decided neither would control.
They were stealing a crown that was never going to be inherited.
