Chapter 8
Alistair had a choice.
Keep the investigation private.
Or open Elena’s final months to people outside the family.
The old D’Angelo instinct would have made the decision simple.
Family security handles family matters.
Private lawyers solve private problems.
Police learn only what they must.
Alistair had lived by versions of that rule for decades.
It had already failed his daughter once.
Rebecca placed three authorization forms in front of him.
One allowed investigators full access to the estate’s archived security records from the month Elena died.
Another authorized release of certain personal financial records.
The third supported a formal professional-conduct complaint that would allow Harbor House and its licensing counsel to examine Corinne’s confidential client access.
Rebecca looked at him.
“If we do this, you lose control over what people notice.”
“I know.”
“Your security records include meetings unrelated to Elena.”
“Yes.”
“Some investigators may ask uncomfortable questions.”
“Yes.”
“You may expose people around you.”
Alistair looked through the glass door of Rebecca’s office.
Sadie sat outside with Daphne, coloring on a tray attached to her wheelchair.
Corinne had poured water over that child because Sadie refused to surrender the word Mom.
Then she threatened the one woman Elena had trusted.
Alistair signed all three forms.
Rebecca gathered them slowly.
“That cannot be undone.”
“I know.”
By evening the process had begun.
His capos found out within hours.
One called him reckless.
Another accused him of letting grief compromise the family.
Alistair ended both conversations quickly.
He did not care whether reopening Elena’s final night made him uncomfortable.
He cared whether his daughter grew up inside another lie simply because the truth was inconvenient for powerful adults.
The irreversible decision cost him immediately.
Two senior associates stopped attending meetings at the estate.
A business partner delayed a transaction after hearing investigators might review security logs.
One relative demanded Alistair withdraw the cooperation.
He refused.
Then Corinne’s attorney contacted Rebecca.
Corinne wanted to negotiate.
Not about the gala.
About Elena.
Rebecca looked at Alistair.
“She knows the records are about to tell us something.”
May you like
Alistair’s expression remained cold.
“Then let them tell us first.”
