Chapter 6 - Lauren Finally Breaks
Daniel arrived at Melissa Crane’s house forty minutes after I told him not to come.
I heard his car before I saw him.
Fast.
Too fast.
He came through the front door after Thomas opened it, breathing hard, funeral tie gone, white shirt wrinkled.
“Show me.”
I held up the destruction order.
“You were told not to come.”
“I know.”
“That has not stopped meaning no.”
He stopped.
Good.
Then I handed him the page anyway.
His face changed as he read his own electronic signature.
“I did this.”
“Yes.”
“I remember.”
Melissa looked at him.
“Why?”
Daniel sat.
“Because I wanted everything connected to Claire gone.”
The honesty was ugly.
Better than excuses.
“I thought the pregnancy wasn’t mine. I thought she had used the clinic to cover an affair.”
I laughed once.
“Based on one fraudulent report.”
“Yes.”
“And Lauren.”
“Yes.”
“And your mother.”
He looked at me.
“Yes.”
“Did you call the clinic?”
“No.”
“Ask for chain of custody?”
“No.”
“Request a new sample?”
“No.”
Melissa said quietly, “You demanded destruction within seventy-two hours.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“I know.”
She shook her head.
“No. You know now. At the time, I told your assistant the request violated clinic procedure.”
“Your office called back twice.”
He opened his eyes.
“My assistant?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Melissa pulled the call log.
Initials:
E.P.
Daniel went still.
“My mother’s office.”
I stared.
Evelyn had followed his destruction order to completion.
Not just encouraged anger.
Managed evidence.
Melissa continued.
“I refused to destroy the audit trail. I preserved a digital copy because the sample-identification history looked wrong.”
“Did Evelyn know?”
“I never spoke to her directly.”
Thomas said, “Someone from her office could have.”
Melissa nodded.
“Paula Wynn handled it.”
My pulse kicked.
“Where is Paula?”
Melissa looked toward the window.
“Last I heard, Arizona.”
Thomas already had an investigator searching.
Daniel’s phone rang.
Lauren.
He stared at the name.
Then answered on speaker.
“What?”
Her voice came tight.
“Your mother just told me to leave the estate.”
“Good.”
“Daniel.”
“No. Talk.”
Silence.
Then:
“She’s going to make me the whole story.”
My skin tightened.
“What does that mean?”
Lauren’s voice cracked.
“It means I lied, but I didn’t build all of this.”
Daniel stared at the speaker.
“Who did?”
“You already know.”
“Say it.”
Lauren inhaled.
“Your mother.”
The room went still.
Daniel closed his eyes.
I felt no surprise.
Only the hard click of a suspected truth finding a name.
Lauren continued.
“She came to me before the hotel.”
“How long before?”
“Two weeks.”
“What did she ask?”
“To watch Claire.”
“Why?”
“She said Claire was hiding something.”
“What?”
“She didn’t tell me.”
I said, “You followed me because Evelyn paid you.”
Lauren went quiet.
“Yes.”
“How much did she promise?”
“Seventy-five thousand.”
“For one lie?”
“For documentation.”
“You mean photographs.”
“Yes.”
“Then you changed the story from upstairs meeting to affair.”
Lauren started crying.
“I wanted Daniel.”
There it was.
Not manipulation alone.
Choice.
“I had wanted him for years. Evelyn knew.”
Daniel’s face turned gray.
“She used that.”
“Yes.”
“And you let her.”
“Yes.”
I watched him absorb it.
He did not get to collapse alone.
I asked, “What did Evelyn say about my pregnancy?”
Lauren hesitated.
“Lauren.”
“She said it was already handled.”
“What words?”
A long pause.
Then:
“She said, ‘By the time Daniel sees the report, he’ll know those babies aren’t Prescott blood.’”
Daniel’s hand clenched.
“She knew there were embryos.”
“Yes.”
“Did she say how the clinic would do it?”
“No.”
“Did you meet Paula Wynn?”
“No.”
“Did you meet anyone from Ashford?”
Lauren whispered, “Victor Ashford.”
Thomas straightened.
“Who?”
“Registered agent for the company. Evelyn called him Vic.”
Dana had not found a real operator behind Ashford.
Now we had a name.
Lauren continued.
“He gave me the first payment.”
“In cash?”
“Cashier’s check.”
“Did you know where the money came from?”
“No.”
“Did you care?”
She cried harder.
“No.”
That answer was probably the most truthful thing she had said all day.
Daniel whispered, “Why marry me later?”
Lauren went silent.
Then:
“Because I loved you.”
He laughed.
“Don’t.”
“I did.”
“You watched my wife get destroyed.”
“She wasn’t your wife anymore.”
“Because of you.”
“Because you believed me.”
Again.
True enough to wound.
Daniel looked at me.
I did not look away.
He needed to feel the full weight.
Lauren said, “Your mother told me Claire would be gone either way.”
“What does that mean?”
“She said Claire had found something in company records.”
My pulse kicked.
Daniel looked toward me.
“What did you find?”
I remembered Arthur’s charity reconciliation.
The vendors.
The strange Ashford payments.
“I noticed money moving through consulting accounts.”
“How much?”
“At the time, I only saw a few hundred thousand.”
Thomas and Dana exchanged a look.
Lauren whispered:
“That’s why Evelyn wanted you gone.”
Daniel asked, “Not because she thought Claire cheated?”
Lauren’s answer came quietly.
“She never thought Claire cheated.”
Thomas asked Lauren whether Evelyn ever mentioned the Prescott company records.
She hesitated.
“Once.”
“What did she say?”
“That Claire had started asking questions she didn’t understand.”
I laughed softly.
“I understood enough.”
Lauren nodded reluctantly.
“That’s what Evelyn was afraid of.”
Daniel’s face tightened.
“When did she tell you this?”
“Before the hotel.”
“So before any supposed affair, Mom already wanted Claire discredited.”
“Yes.”
He stared at the floor.
Every timeline was moving backward, stripping away the story he had lived with.
The infidelity accusation had never triggered the family response.
The response existed first.
The accusation came after.
Thomas said, “That distinction matters.”
Lauren whispered, “Evelyn said if Claire looked dishonest in her marriage, no one would trust her about business.”
I felt my jaw tighten.
There it was.
Not just divorce.
Character destruction.
If I ever accused the Prescott family of financial misconduct afterward, I would be the bitter ex-wife who cheated and stole.
May you like
They had prewritten my credibility before sending me away.
CUT.
