Chapter 5 - THE MAN WHO HAD ALREADY WON
I spent the next four hours reading every document David brought.
The revised beneficiary designation was real.
My father's signature was authentic.
But the document had been witnessed by two people neither David nor I recognized.
Its date was six months before my father's death.
“Why would he do this?” I asked.
David rubbed his forehead.
“I don't know.”
“You were his attorney.”
“I was his corporate attorney, Emily. Your father had private legal advisers I wasn't always involved with.”
I stared at the document.
“Could he have changed his mind about me?”
David didn't answer.
That hurt more than I expected.
I had spent my entire childhood believing my father trusted me.
Even when I left the company to raise Noah and Lily, he never questioned my decision.
He used to tell me that motherhood wasn't an interruption of my life.
It was part of it.
Now I was looking at a document suggesting he had deliberately handed everything to the man who had betrayed me.
At 3:40 p.m., Michael called again.
“Richard has frozen your access to the company's financial records.”
“Can he do that?”
“He has operational control. He's using it to intimidate employees.”
“What's happening with the properties?”
“Three transfers are scheduled for Monday.”
I looked at David.
“Can we stop them?”
“We can file for an emergency injunction if we establish probable fraud and demonstrate imminent financial harm.”
“Then do it.”
David nodded.
But Michael interrupted.
“There's another problem.”
I closed my eyes.
“Of course there is.”
“Vanessa has resigned.”
“What?”
“She submitted her resignation this morning. Then she transferred $18 million from a company investment account.”
David immediately stood.
“Did you say eighteen million?”
“Yes.”
“Where did it go?”
“A private account under a holding company registered in Delaware.”
David's face hardened.
“That's the same company named in the blue box.”
I felt sick.
Richard hadn't simply been cheating on me.
He had been moving company money through a structure designed to disappear.
“Can you trace it?”
“I'm trying.”
At 5:15 p.m., Richard called.
I almost ignored it.
Then I answered.
“Hello.”
“Emily, we need to settle this.”
“What exactly do you want?”
“I want you to stop listening to David.”
“Why?”
“Because he's using you.”
I laughed quietly.
“That's interesting coming from you.”
He sighed.
“I know you're upset about Vanessa.”
“Upset?”
“Look, things got complicated.”
“Did you sleep with her?”
Silence.
Then he said, “That's not relevant.”
I closed my eyes.
“Thank you. That tells me everything.”
“Emily, I love our children.”
“You don't get to use them as a shield.”
“I want to come home.”
“No.”
“I'm still your husband.”
“Not for much longer.”
His voice dropped.
“If you file for divorce, I'll make sure you regret it.”
I ended the call.
At 7:00 p.m., David returned with a draft emergency petition.
But before he could explain it, someone knocked on the front door.
A woman stood outside.
She was in her early thirties, wearing a dark green coat.
She looked exhausted.
“Are you Emily Carter?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Olivia.”
I froze.
She looked almost exactly like the little girl in the photograph.
“I think we have the same father.”
I couldn't speak.
Olivia reached into her handbag and removed a small envelope.
“Your father gave me this shortly before he died. He told me to bring it to you if Richard ever tried to take control of the company.”
I took it.
Inside was a photograph of my father holding two newborn babies.
One was me.
The other was Olivia.
Behind the photograph was a handwritten message.
To my daughters. I made a terrible mistake by keeping you apart. But I did it because someone close to our family was threatening you both.
I looked up.
“Who?”
Olivia's eyes filled with tears.
“I don't know his name.”
She swallowed.
“But I know what he looks like.”
She turned toward the window.
A black SUV was parked across the street.
The driver's door opened.
A man stepped out.
Olivia went pale.
“That's him.”
David moved toward the window.
Then he stopped.
“Emily, get away from the glass.”
May you like
The man looked directly at our house.
And smiled.
