Chapter 6 - THE WAREHOUSE
The warehouse had been abandoned for fifteen years.
Rain hammered its broken windows.
Emily sat in Daniel's car two blocks away while police prepared around the perimeter.
She hated every second.
Michael had demanded she come alone.
Daniel refused to let her walk into a kidnapping without protection.
“You can't stop me,” Emily said.
“I know.”
“Then unlock the door.”
Daniel didn't.
“Give them three minutes.”
“My son is in there.”
“And Michael wants the ledger. Noah is leverage. That means keeping Noah alive serves his purpose.”
Emily stared at him.
“You can say that because he isn't your child.”
Daniel flinched.
She regretted it instantly.
“Daniel—”
He unlocked the door.
“You're right.”
“No. I’m scared.”
“So am I.”
Emily looked at him.
Daniel's voice dropped.
“I've known Noah for less than a week, and I'm terrified.”
That was when Emily realized this had stopped being about guilt for him.
Daniel cared.
She reached across the console and squeezed his hand.
Three minutes later, she entered the warehouse carrying a duplicate ledger.
A single light burned upstairs.
“Noah!”
“Mom!”
His voice came from behind a glass office.
Emily ran forward.
Michael Collins stepped from the shadows.
He held no weapon.
That surprised her.
Noah was locked inside the office but appeared unharmed.
Michael looked exhausted rather than dangerous.
“Ledger.”
“Let him go.”
“First the book.”
Emily held it up.
Michael laughed bitterly.
“You look like Rebecca.”
“Don't say her name.”
“She ruined my father.”
“Your father robbed her.”
“You believe a recording?”
“I believe bank records.”
Michael's expression hardened.
“My father built Northstar.”
“Then why forge signatures?”
Silence.
Emily understood.
Michael knew.
Maybe he had always known.
“This isn't about proving your father innocent,” she said.
“It’s about keeping everyone from learning he was guilty.”
Michael's jaw tightened.
“You don't understand what a family name means.”
Emily looked through the glass at Noah.
“Yes, I do.”
She stepped closer.
“It means what you leave your child when you're gone.”
Michael stared.
“My mother left me the truth.”
Then a crash sounded behind them.
Michael spun around.
Daniel emerged from the side entrance.
“You.”
Michael's face twisted.
“You people took everything.”
Daniel stopped several yards away.
“My father trusted yours.”
“And your family got billions while mine got scraps.”
“Your father stole Rebecca's shares.”
“My father made your company possible!”
“And if that's true, the records can show it. Kidnapping an eight-year-old won't.”
Michael's composure cracked.
He lunged toward Emily.
Police entered simultaneously.
Everything happened in seconds.
Daniel moved first, pulling Emily backward.
Michael crashed into a table.
Officers restrained him.
Emily ran to the office.
“Noah!”
The door was unlocked.
Noah threw himself into her arms.
She held him so tightly he complained he couldn't breathe.
She loosened her grip by approximately one inch.
Daniel stood several feet away.
Noah saw him.
“You brought superheroes.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“Yes.”
Noah extended one arm.
Daniel hesitated.
Then stepped forward.
The boy wrapped both arms around him and Emily.
For a moment, the three of them stood together beneath the flickering warehouse light.
Later, after police statements and medical checks, Noah fell asleep in Daniel's car.
Emily watched him from the opposite seat.
Daniel sat beside her.
“Thank you.”
“You don't owe me that.”
“Yes, I do.”
“No.”
She turned toward him.
Daniel was looking at Noah.
“Someone should've protected Matthew.”
Emily understood.
She gently touched his hand.
“You couldn't save your brother, Daniel.”
He looked at her.
“But you helped save my son.”
Their faces were suddenly close.
Neither moved.
Emily could hear the rain against the roof.
Daniel looked at her mouth, then back at her eyes.
He leaned slightly closer.
Noah snored loudly.
They both froze.
Emily started laughing.
Daniel leaned back and covered his face.
“That kid has incredible timing.”
For the first time in days, Emily laughed until tears came.
The following morning, Michael Collins was charged with kidnapping and attempted extortion.
The ledger was placed into evidence.
Emily believed the worst was over.
She was wrong.
At 9:03, Marcus called.
“Turn on the news.”
Emily did.
A photograph of Daniel appeared onscreen.
Then hers.
The headline underneath read:
BILLIONAIRE CEO ACCUSED OF SECRET PAYOFF TO WAITRESS CLAIMING COMPANY OWNERSHIP
Emily's heart sank.
A reporter described allegations that Daniel had manipulated corporate records to transfer wealth to a woman with whom he was romantically involved.
“How did they know?”
Marcus sounded grim.
“Michael sent documents to reporters before the warehouse.”
Then the television displayed something worse.
A photograph of Daniel leaving Emily's apartment late at night.
The implication was obvious.
Daniel's board had called an emergency meeting.
May you like
Investors were demanding answers.
And suddenly, helping Emily could cost Daniel the company he'd spent his entire life building.
