Chapter 6 - THE PEOPLE WHO CHANGED SIDES
Daniel’s investigation split the Bennett family before he ever accused anyone of wrongdoing.
Thomas called first.
“I heard you revoked the proxy.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Daniel was surprised.
Thomas had spent twenty years avoiding conflict.
“Why good?”
“Because we all got lazy.”
“We?”
“Your vote became Evelyn’s vote. Nobody questioned it.”
Thomas owned eight percent of the company.
His shares were not enough to control anything.
But they mattered.
“So you knew about Peter’s contracts?”
“I knew his company hauled product for us.”
“Did you know what we paid?”
“No.”
“Did you ask?”
Thomas was quiet.
“No.”
Daniel thought of the mansion.
Thomas standing three yards away while Peter shoved the wheelchair.
A man could be decent and still spend years making cowardly choices.
Daniel was learning that distinction everywhere.
Aunt Margaret, their father’s younger sister, took Evelyn’s side.
“Your sister carried that business while you were recovering.”
“I know.”
“She raised Peter while doing it.”
“I know.”
“And now you repay her with auditors?”
“I’m asking what happened to money attached to my ownership.”
“You sound like Rachel.”
Daniel stopped.
Once, that would have angered him.
Now he said, “Thank you.”
Margaret hung up.
Lily’s relationship with Mason and Ava became another problem.
Their school break ended.
The children did not attend the same school, but they shared cousins, birthdays, holidays and family group chats.
Mason sent Lily a message.
Dad says your dad is trying to destroy Grandma.
Daniel saw it because Lily showed him voluntarily.
He did not reply for her.
“What do you want to do?”
“Nothing.”
“Then nothing is what we do.”
She blocked Mason.
Ava sent no message.
That hurt Lily more.
Meanwhile, Peter hired counsel.
The lawyer sent Caroline a letter insisting Bennett Interior Logistics had competed fairly for every contract and that Daniel’s insinuations were damaging.
Daniel had not made public insinuations.
Caroline advised him to keep it that way.
“No Facebook.”
“I don’t use Facebook.”
“No family-wide email.”
“I wasn’t planning one.”
“No speech at Christmas.”
“It’s January.”
“You’d be amazed.”
Daniel smiled for the first time that day.
The larger emotional shift came from Susan Bennett.
Peter’s wife.
She called Daniel privately.
“I’m not calling about the company.”
“What are you calling about?”
“Mason.”
Daniel waited.
Susan’s voice shook.
“He told me what happened under the stairs.”
“I know what happened.”
“No. The part before.”
Daniel sat straighter.
Susan continued.
“Mason said Evelyn told him Lily had been acting like she deserved the same treatment as the grandchildren who ‘actually contribute to the family legacy.’”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Mason understood that to mean what?”
“That you and Lily were living off everyone else.”
Daniel’s anger rose.
Susan began crying.
“I’m not excusing him.”
“Good.”
“I’m telling you because I need you to know Peter talks that way at home too.”
Daniel became still.
“What way?”
“About you.”
A pause.
“He says the family business subsidizes your life. He says Evelyn has had to protect your shares from your emotional decisions since Rachel died.”
Daniel looked toward Rachel’s folder.
“Does he know the distributions are mine?”
“I don’t know what he knows.”
“Why tell me this?”
Susan took a breath.
“Because Peter came home after the party and told Mason he shouldn’t apologize.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“He said apologizing would make it look like the Bennetts were responsible.”
Responsible.
Not sorry.
Not ashamed.
Responsible.
Daniel understood then that the mansion incident had changed something inside Peter too.
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Peter was no longer merely defending his children.
He was defending a system.
