Victor chose a quiet conference room in his attorney's office.
He arrived alone.
He looked older than the man in Teagan's photographs, but I recognized him immediately.
Daniel's shoulders tightened when Victor entered.
Lucas remained beside me.
Victor looked at him for several seconds.
“You must be Lucas.”
“Yes.”
Victor nodded.
“I knew your mother.”
Lucas's expression hardened.
“Did you help people try to take me?”
Victor sat down.
“I helped your grandfather with legal and financial matters.”
“That wasn't my question.”
Victor looked at me.
“He deserves an honest answer.”
“Yes,” I said.
Victor folded his hands.
“There was an effort to influence the custody arrangement.”
Lucas didn't move.
“Was there?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your grandfather believed the family trust should remain under his control.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“You mean he wanted access to the money.”
Victor didn't deny it.
“He believed he was protecting the family assets.”
“By taking my son?”
“I wasn't the person making the final decisions.”
“But you knew.”
“Yes.”
The admission was painful.
I asked, “What did you tell Teagan?”
“That she should cooperate.”
“You threatened her?”
“No.”
“You followed her?”
“No.”
“You contacted her?”
“Several times.”
“Why?”
“To persuade her.”
“Persuade her to do what?”
“To sign an agreement.”
Lucas looked at me.
“What agreement?”
Victor explained that the document would have placed certain decisions concerning Lucas under a family-appointed trustee.
Teagan had refused.
“She was eighteen,” I said.
“Yes.”
“She didn't understand all the legal consequences.”
“She understood enough to say no.”
That was the first thing Victor said that sounded like respect.
I asked about the payments.
“Why did your company receive money from Daniel's father's business?”
“Consulting.”
“Consulting about what?”
“Asset protection.”
“Asset protection involving my daughter?”
“Partly.”
Daniel stood.
“You knew she was sick.”
Victor looked at him.
“Yes.”
“Who told you?”
“Your father.”
“Why?”
“Because he was concerned the pregnancy might create legal complications.”
Daniel's face tightened.
“He wasn't concerned about her.”
Victor didn't respond.
I asked the question that mattered most.
“Did you cause any medical treatment to be changed?”
“No.”
“Did you instruct anyone at the hospital?”
“No.”
“Did you interfere with her care?”
“No.”
“Did you want her to die?”
Victor's face changed.
“No.”
He answered immediately.
“No.”
The room fell quiet.
I believed the answer in the limited sense that he appeared genuinely horrified by the question.
But I still didn't know whether he was telling the whole truth.
“Then why did Teagan believe her baby was in danger?”
“Because she knew about the custody plan.”
“And because people were following her.”
Victor looked down.
“I wasn't responsible for every person involved.”
“What does that mean?”
He hesitated.
“There were private investigators.”
“Who hired them?”
“Your daughter's grandfather.”
Daniel stared at him.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To monitor whether Teagan would give birth and whether you would remain involved.”
Daniel shook his head.
“My father was obsessed with control.”
Victor didn't disagree.
Then he said something unexpected.
“Teagan knew more than she realized.”
I leaned forward.
“What?”
“She discovered that your father's financial position was worse than he admitted.”
Daniel looked stunned.
Victor explained that the trust connected to Lucas had become valuable because of a property dispute.
If Daniel's father lost control of certain assets, creditors could potentially pursue other holdings.
“The custody arrangement was part of a larger financial strategy,” Victor said.
I felt sick.
“My daughter was being treated like a legal obstacle.”
“Yes.”
Lucas looked down.
“What about my father?”
Victor glanced at Daniel.
“He was supposed to be persuaded to sign certain documents.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“I never saw them.”
“Because Teagan intercepted them.”
I looked at Daniel.
“She protected you too.”
He nodded slowly.
Victor then admitted that Sarah had copied some documents and given them to Teagan.
“That was when things became dangerous,” he said.
“Dangerous how?”
“Because your grandfather realized someone was leaking information.”
“Did he know it was Sarah?”
“Eventually.”
“Did he know Teagan had the evidence?”
“Yes.”
The room seemed colder.
“Did he order anyone to hurt her?”
Victor's answer was firm.
“No.”
“Did he order anyone to threaten her?”
Victor hesitated.
“I cannot say what others may have done independently.”
“That isn't good enough.”
“I know.”
Victor looked at Lucas.
“Your mother was caught between people who wanted control and people who wanted to help her.”
“Which side were you on?”
Victor looked ashamed.
“At first, I was on your grandfather's side.”
“And later?”
“I realized how far things had gone.”
“Why?”
“Because Teagan came to me.”
I stared at him.
“She came to you?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Two days before she died.”
“What did she say?”
“She told me she would not sign anything.”
“What else?”
“She asked me to leave her alone.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She told me that if I contacted her again, she would go to the authorities.”
Victor looked toward the window.
“I believed her.”
That detail matched Teagan's determination.
“What did she know?”
“She knew about the trust.”
“Anything else?”
“She knew someone had obtained private medical information.”
I felt my heart stop.
“Who?”
Victor shook his head.
“I never learned the source.”
“Did you arrange it?”
“No.”
“Did your father?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“I don't know.”
Again, uncertainty.
But this time it was coming from a man who had every reason to minimize his involvement.
The meeting ended without a confession.
Victor had admitted enough to confirm the financial and custody scheme.
He denied threatening Teagan or interfering with her medical treatment.
The attorney later told us that his statements could be compared against the documents.
As we left the building, Daniel stopped.
“I hate him.”
I looked at him.
“You don't have to decide how you feel today.”
“I don't know what I feel.”
“That may be the honest answer.”
Lucas stood beside us.
“I'm angry.”
Daniel looked at him.
“So am I.”
Lucas nodded.
“But I don't want anger to become the only thing I know about Mom.”
That sentence stayed with me.
We returned home.
That night, I opened Teagan's notebook again.
There was one page I had not examined carefully.
It was near the end.
She had written several names.
Victor.
Sarah.
Daniel's father.
Then Daniel.
Beside Daniel's name was a small heart.
Beside everyone else were question marks.
I smiled through tears.
Even at eighteen, Teagan knew the difference between uncertainty and love.
The next morning, the attorney sent us a copy of an old email Victor had not mentioned.
It had been written to Sarah shortly before Teagan died.
The message said:
She knows about the trust. She also knows something about the hospital.
I read it twice.
Then I noticed the date.
The email had been sent the morning Teagan went into labor.
And beneath it was a second message.
Do not let her speak to the records department.
I looked at Daniel.
“Why would they care what she told the records department?”
He stared at the screen.
“I don't know.”
I closed the laptop.
“We're going back to the hospital.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 15: The Hospital’s Old Security Logs Revealed an Unexpected Visitor, but His Presence Raised a More Disturbing Question About Teagan’s Last Morning
The Baby Survived, But the Doctor’s First Words Left Me Realizing My Daughter Was Never Coming Home
Part 14 of 20
