The Badge in the Archive
Chapter 02 - The Badge in the Archive
The ballroom doors were locked while military security reviewed the photograph. Daniel insisted he had never entered the naval archives. Victoria accused Claire of staging the entire scene to avoid signing a prenuptial agreement.
Admiral Bennett studied the image. The man wore Daniel’s coat, Daniel’s watch, and Daniel’s face. More troubling was the badge clipped beneath his lapel. It belonged to James and had disappeared after Claire’s accident.
The archives contained records connected to Bennett Maritime, the defense logistics company Claire would inherit when her father retired. Whoever controlled her trust would gain access to contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Claire finally understood why Daniel had rushed the engagement.
Security searched his jacket and found no badge. Daniel smiled as if the matter were settled.
Then Robert Cross, Daniel’s father, stepped forward. He had spent the evening silent in a black tuxedo, watching his wife and son with growing concern.
“I saw Victoria take something from Daniel before dinner,” Robert said.
Victoria stared at him. “Be careful.”
Robert reached into her purse and removed the missing badge.
The room erupted.
Victoria claimed Daniel had found it on the hotel floor and given it to her for safekeeping. Daniel supported her story, but Admiral Bennett ordered a full investigation.
Claire asked why her father had ignored every request she sent after the crash.
James looked confused. He had received no requests. Instead, he had been sent medical reports saying Claire became violent whenever his name was mentioned. He had also received handwritten letters demanding access to her inheritance.
Claire had never written them.
The letters she received from him were false too.
For eighteen months, Daniel and Victoria had kept father and daughter apart while they emptied Claire’s accounts and prepared to control Bennett Maritime through marriage.
A hotel technician recovered the damaged memory card from Victoria’s champagne glass. It might still be readable, but the files would take hours to restore.
Daniel was escorted to a private room for questioning.
Before the doors closed, he looked at Claire and said, “Ask your father what really happened to your mother.”
Claire turned toward James.
Her mother, Evelyn, had died in a boating accident when Claire was ten. James had always said a storm overturned the boat.
But Daniel’s words frightened him.
“Dad?”
The admiral’s composure broke.
“The storm didn’t kill her,” he said. “Someone sabotaged the boat.”
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Robert Cross lowered his head.
And Claire realized Daniel’s family had entered their lives long before the car crash.
