Page 124 of Hate You Most

The other two introduced themselves shortly after. Daniel Liu, head of the legal counsel, and Aamina Morad, an IT and computer forensics expert, younger than Claire but with the same intensity in her eyes.

Viktoriya took a seat..

“Before we start,” Claire said. “I want to be clear about something. We don’t publish anything that we can’t personally verify. Not because we don’t believe you, but because once the story is out there, it has to hold legally. So if you can't prove something has happened, we won't publish it.”

Viktoriya nodded slowly. “I understand.”

“And this isn’t isolated to just your father,” Daniel added. “If what you’ve described is accurate, then we’re looking at financial misconduct, coercion, and potentially criminal negligence—possibly worse. This will involve multiple agencies. It will escalate quickly.”

“I know.” Her voice was steady, but she could feel the faint tremor beneath it. The part of her brain that told her to step back and conform to what was expected of her. That instinct had guided her for years and it had also nearly destroyed her.

Claire leaned forward slightly, resting her forearms on the table. “Then let’s start with what you have.”

Viktoriya inhaled slowly, then reached into her bag. The first thing she placed on the table was her phone.

“I have recordings,” she said. “Calls and texts from my father. Some of them are direct threats, and some of them are… implied.”

Aamina’s fingers moved quickly on the laptop in front of her. “What kind of things are implied?” she asked.

Viktoriya’s gaze dropped to the phone for a second before she answered. “He never says things directly if he doesn’t have to. It’s always controlled, because he knows he can't say it. But if you listen closely, if you understand what he’s actually saying— then it is all there.”

Aamina nodded once. “We’ll need transcripts of all relevant conversations and texts.”

“You’ll have them.”

Viktoriya reached into her bag again and pulled out a folder. The paper inside was slightly worn at the edges from all the times she'd handled the papers.

“I don't know if this is useful,” she said and slid the papers across the wood. “But, these are articles that detail the car crashes. Every person in these crashes came from Russia and all had rumors surrounding them beforehand. They all worked with the same firm for image management, Red Meridian Consulting.” Her jaw tightened slightly. “It is a Russian company with multiple departments—media, reputation control, and crisis management. They're all partly owned by my father.”

She looked up at the investigators in front of her. “There are also Financial records for the departments,” she said and gestured to the papers across the table. “Or at least part of them. Transfers between accounts tied to Red Meridian and other personal accounts.”

Claire took the papers in her hand and looked at them quickly, her expression tightening almost immediately.

“These aren’t small amounts,” she murmured.

“No,” Viktoriya said. “They are not.”

Aamina leaned over toward Claire, her eyes flicking across the numbers. “Do we know where the money was going?”

“It does not say,” Viktoriya admitted. “But some of it lines up with timing.”

Claire looked up. “The timing of what?”

Viktoriya held her gaze. “The crashes.”

“You’re saying there is a financial pattern connected to the car crashes?” She looked down at the papers in her hand again.

“Yes.”

Daniel looked up from his computer. “And you’re certain?”

“Certain enough.”

Claire was silent across from her as the papers were spread across the table. “Okay,” she said. “We’ll verify everything. Cross-reference accounts, look for shell companies, trace ownership structures. If there’s a pattern, we’ll find it.”

Viktoriya nodded. “There’s more,” she said and reached into her bag again, this time pulling out a smaller stack of printed pages.

“I have different written testimonies,” she explained. “From some of the other survivors.”