Chapter 6 - The Video They Wanted Everyone to SeeBy noon, the video had reached Julian's business partners.
By two o'clock, someone had sent it to three members of the estate's financial advisory team.
By evening, an anonymous social media account had posted a shortened version.
The caption read:
Wealthy businessman destroys furniture in violent rage inside family home.
Julian watched the clip once.
Then he turned off his phone.
The video didn't show Lily's tear-streaked face.
It didn't show Celeste leaning toward her.
It didn't show the recordings.
But it showed something real.
Julian had pushed over a massive piano in anger.
He couldn't deny that.
Nora Chen arrived shortly after sunset.
She carried a leather folder and the tired expression of someone who had already spent hours on the telephone.
"We need to address two separate problems," she said.
Julian sat opposite her.
"My daughter and the trust."
"Three problems," Nora corrected. "Your daughter, the trust, and your own conduct."
He looked down.
"I know."
"Do you?"
Julian's jaw tightened.
Nora leaned forward.
"You were right to remove Lily from danger. You were wrong to tip over a heavy instrument in the same household where your frightened child was being carried to safety."
"She was outside the room."
"That's fortunate. It doesn't make what you did safe."
Julian stared at his tattooed hands.
He remembered the crash.
Lily screaming again.
The terror in her voice.
"I frightened her," he said.
"Then repair that harm through your behavior, not through promises."
He nodded slowly.
Nora opened her folder.
"Now, the video. We won't claim it's fabricated."
"Because it isn't."
"Exactly. We'll preserve the complete footage and document what happened before and after. Don't retaliate online. Don't threaten anyone. Let us establish the timeline."
Julian looked toward the doorway.
Lily was asleep upstairs under the care of a temporary professional caregiver arranged through a licensed agency.
He had interviewed the caregiver himself.
For the first time in months, he had canceled his business travel.
Not postponed it.
Canceled it.
"Celeste says she'll sue me," he said.
"She may try. We don't need to predict her next move."
"She has no right to be near Lily."
"We're taking steps to formalize that boundary."
Nora slid a document across the desk.
It was a notice requesting independent preservation of security records.
A second letter demanded information from Warren in his capacity as trustee.
Julian looked at the account numbers.
"How much money are we talking about?"
"We don't know yet."
"But the eighty-six thousand—"
"Could represent legitimate payments, false billing, or entries that were never paid. We need bank records, contracts, and proof of services."
She pointed at another line.
"There's something else."
Julian leaned closer.
A company called Mercer Residential Preservation had billed the trust repeatedly.
He recognized the name.
Warren used that company for estate maintenance.
"What's wrong with that?"
Nora traced a column.
"These charges are described as emergency structural work."
"And?"
"Some were billed during periods when the estate's actual maintenance records show no corresponding work."
Julian frowned.
"Maybe the work happened elsewhere."
"Possibly. That's why we're investigating."
He studied the entries.
Every invoice had been approved by Warren.
Most had also passed through Edward's security office.
"Why Edward?"
"He certified access for contractors."
Julian felt his stomach turn.
Edward controlled the cameras.
Edward controlled the contractor logs.
Edward had told Thomas to leave the recording device alone.
And Edward had been recommended by Warren.
The pieces were beginning to fit.
Not enough to prove a scheme.
But enough to terrify Julian.
His phone vibrated.
A message from Celeste.
You could have had everything. All you had to do was trust me.
He ignored it.
Another message appeared.
Warren can still make this disappear.
Julian showed Nora.
She read it twice.
"Don't reply."
Then her phone rang.
She stepped into the hallway to answer.
When she returned, her expression had changed.
"The security provider confirmed something."
Julian rose.
"What?"
"Someone logged into the administrator account shortly after the piano incident and requested deletion of selected footage."
"Edward?"
"His credentials were used. We still need to establish who actually used them."
Julian gripped the back of his chair.
"Did they delete it?"
"The local copies were removed."
His heart sank.
"But the provider retained a backup of the access history."
Julian exhaled.
Nora continued.
"And according to the preliminary timestamps, the deletion request was submitted before Warren sent you the edited video."
Julian stared.
He imagined Celeste standing beside the piano.
Edward watching the doors.
Warren waiting for his brother to lose control.
"You're saying they planned this."
"I'm saying the timing deserves investigation."
Julian looked toward the staircase.
His daughter was finally sleeping.
May you like
But someone had turned her fear into something they could use against him.
And he was beginning to understand that the person directing it might share his own last name.
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