Chapter 8
Ryan knocked first.
Not pounded.
Knocked.
Three calm taps.
That frightened me more.
Dad stood several feet behind him.
Charles Hale waited beside the curb.
Rebecca grabbed my arm.
“Do not open that door.”
I looked at her.
“I need answers.”
“You won’t get answers from them.”
“I’m tired of letting everyone decide which truth I’m allowed to hear.”
I walked toward the door.
Rebecca stepped in front of me.
“Emily.”
“What?”
“Charles’s father was powerful.”
“He’s dead.”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you afraid of Charles?”
Her eyes moved toward the window.
“Because sons inherit more than money.”
Vanessa whispered, “We should call the police.”
Rebecca laughed bitterly.
“I tried that once.”
I looked at her.
“When?”
“After someone broke into my apartment.”
“And?”
“The report disappeared.”
“Who took it?”
“I don’t know.”
I pulled out my phone.
“I’m still calling.”
Dad shouted from outside.
“Emily! Please open the door.”
I called 911.
I gave the address.
I said several people had followed us and I was afraid the confrontation could become dangerous.
The dispatcher said officers were coming.
Then I opened the door.
Rebecca swore behind me.
Ryan stood on the porch.
His eyes immediately dropped to my hand.
I had forgotten I was still holding the flash drive.
His face changed.
“Where did you get that?”
I closed my fist around it.
“Why?”
“Emily.”
“Answer.”
Dad stepped closer.
“Is that Margaret’s?”
Ryan turned toward him.
“You said Rebecca didn’t have it.”
“I didn’t know.”
Rebecca came into view.
My father stopped breathing.
“Becca.”
She stared at him.
“Don’t call me that.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“You’re alive.”
“You knew I was alive.”
“I didn’t know where.”
“You could have found me.”
“I tried.”
“No.”
Rebecca shook her head.
“You paid people to make me disappear from Emily’s life.”
Dad looked at me.
“That isn’t true.”
Rebecca laughed.
“You told everyone I moved to London.”
“You asked me to hide you.”
“From Ryan.”
“And I did.”
“You also hid me from Emily.”
Dad looked ashamed.
“I thought it was safer.”
I almost laughed.
Again, that word.
Safer.
Every lie in my life had apparently been committed for my safety.
I looked past them.
Charles was walking toward the porch now.
Rebecca stiffened.
“Stay back.”
Charles stopped.
“Rebecca.”
“Don’t.”
“I need to speak with Emily.”
“No.”
I stared at him.
“You knew my biological father.”
His face changed.
Ryan looked at me sharply.
Dad closed his eyes.
Charles whispered, “So she told you.”
“Yes.”
He looked at Rebecca.
“You should have told her years ago.”
She laughed.
“You don’t get an opinion.”
Charles turned back to me.
“David was my father’s business partner.”
“And your father killed him.”
Dad looked at Charles.
“What?”
Ryan’s expression sharpened.
Charles stared at Rebecca.
“She told you that?”
“She told me what she believes.”
Charles nodded slowly.
“My father didn’t kill David.”
Rebecca stepped forward.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“But I can prove it.”
I looked at him.
“How?”
He glanced toward the house.
“Not on the porch.”
“Nobody is coming inside.”
“Emily.”
Dad’s voice was soft.
I turned.
“What?”
“I know Charles.”
“I know.”
“He has been on our board for twenty years.”
“Exactly.”
Dad understood the accusation.
“You think he’s involved?”
“I don’t know what to think.”
Ryan muttered, “That’s finally the smartest thing you’ve said.”
Vanessa stepped onto the porch.
“Still insulting her when your life is collapsing?”
Ryan looked at her.
“You should have stayed at the hospital.”
“You should have stayed faithful.”
His jaw tightened.
Charles stared at Vanessa.
“Who are you?”
“Another one of Ryan’s bad decisions.”
“Vanessa.”
She ignored him.
Sirens sounded in the distance.
Charles looked toward the road.
“You called police.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
That surprised me.
“You’re happy?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I want witnesses.”
The police arrived two minutes later.
Two patrol cars.
One of the officers was the same man from the bank.
He looked exhausted when he recognized us.
“Mrs. Carter.”
“Sorry.”
“I’m beginning to think your family needs its own precinct.”
Despite everything, Vanessa snorted.
The officer looked at everyone.
“Anybody armed?”
No one answered.
He repeated the question.
Charles raised his hands.
“I have a licensed handgun locked in my vehicle.”
Ryan shook his head.
“Nothing.”
Dad said, “No.”
Rebecca said, “No.”
The officers separated us.
After we explained the situation, they agreed to remain outside while I spoke with the others inside.
Rebecca didn’t like it.
But she finally agreed.
We sat in the living room.
Six people.
One room.
More secrets than oxygen.
I placed the flash drive on the coffee table.
Nobody touched it.
I looked at Charles.
“Start.”
He nodded.
“David Mercer was my father’s best friend.”
Rebecca laughed bitterly.
“You mean employee.”
“Partner.”
“He owned thirty percent.”
“He helped build the company.”
“Then why did Walter take everything after David died?”
Charles looked down.
“Because David’s shares transferred to my father.”
“Convenient.”
“It was in their partnership agreement.”
“An agreement David told me he planned to change.”
Charles looked surprised.
“When?”
“Two weeks before he died.”
Silence.
I leaned forward.
“Why?”
Rebecca answered.
“Because of me.”
Charles stared at her.
She continued.
“David wanted his shares to go to our child.”
Charles looked at me.
Realization crossed his face.
“You.”
“Yes.”
I felt dizzy.
“If David had changed the agreement, I would have inherited part of Mercer & Hale?”
Rebecca nodded.
“Eventually.”
Charles whispered, “My father never told me that.”
“Of course he didn’t.”
I stared at Charles.
“What happened the day David died?”
Charles took a breath.
“There was an accident at a job site near Arlington.”
“What kind?”
“A steel beam fell.”
“Was your father there?”
“Yes.”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
Charles continued.
“So was Thomas Harrison Sr.”
My grandfather.
Dad looked shocked.
“What?”
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
Charles nodded.
“The project belonged to Harrison Development.”
I looked at Dad.
“Grandpa was there when my biological father died?”
Apparently Dad had not known either.
“I was told he was in Houston.”
Charles said, “He arrived at the site that morning.”
“For what?”
“To meet David.”
Rebecca covered her mouth.
I turned.
“You knew?”
“No.”
Charles continued.
“David had requested the meeting.”
“Why?”
“Because he believed someone was inflating invoices and splitting the excess payments.”
“Who?”
“My father and your grandfather were both on his list.”
Dad stood.
“My father?”
Charles looked at him.
“Yes.”
Dad shook his head.
“No.”
“You never knew?”
“No.”
“He protected you from everything.”
Dad sank back into the chair.
For once, the revelation seemed to hit him instead of me.
I almost felt sorry for him.
Almost.
“What evidence did David have?”
I asked.
“Accounting ledgers.”
“Where?”
“He told Rebecca he had copies.”
She nodded.
“He kept them in a storage locker.”
Charles looked at her.
“Did you ever find them?”
“No.”
He looked at the flash drive.
“But Margaret did.”
Rebecca nodded.
My heart raced.
“How did Mom find thirty-year-old records?”
Dad answered quietly.
“Your grandfather kept everything.”
I looked at him.
“You knew?”
“Not about David.”
“About old company files?”
“Yes.”
“Margaret found them?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“A few months before she became ill.”
Ryan suddenly spoke.
“That’s what was on Red Cedar.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“The old payments.”
Dad stared at Ryan.
“You knew?”
“I traced them.”
“You never told me.”
“You never asked the right question.”
Dad stood again.
“You blackmailed me with my father’s crimes?”
Ryan shook his head.
“No.”
“Then what?”
Ryan looked at me.
“Your father repeated them.”
Dad went still.
“What do you mean?”
Ryan leaned forward.
“Thomas thought he invented the offshore structure he used to save Harrison Development.”
My father’s face changed.
Ryan smiled bitterly.
“He didn’t.”
“What?”
“He copied the structure from your grandfather’s old accounts.”
Dad stared at him.
“I didn’t know those accounts were illegal.”
Ryan laughed.
“You moved money through shell companies.”
“I was trying to avoid a collapse.”
“You knew exactly what you were doing.”
I interrupted.
“So the same financial system existed thirty-four years ago.”
“Yes.”
“And Mom found that.”
“Yes.”
“What else?”
Ryan looked at the flash drive.
“She found that the payments stopped for years.”
“Then?”
“Started again after Thomas became CEO.”
Dad shouted, “That was unrelated!”
“Maybe.”
Ryan shrugged.
“But Margaret didn’t think so.”
I looked at Dad.
“She thought you knew about David.”
“No.”
“She thought you were repeating Grandpa’s crimes.”
“Yes.”
“Were you?”
“I used accounts I knew existed.”
“Did you know where they came from?”
“No.”
Charles leaned forward.
“My father did.”
We all looked at him.
“What?”
Charles swallowed.
“Walter told me about the accounts before he died.”
Rebecca stood.
“When?”
“Eight years ago.”
“The same year Margaret started investigating.”
“Yes.”
I stared at him.
“What did your father tell you?”
“That Thomas Harrison Sr. created the structure.”
“My grandfather.”
“Yes.”
“And Walter used it?”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“To hide payments.”
“To himself?”
Charles shook his head.
“To people who kept construction contracts moving.”
“Bribes.”
“Yes.”
“Did David discover them?”
“Yes.”
Rebecca’s face twisted.
“And Walter killed him.”
“No.”
“How can you still say that?”
“Because my father confessed to helping cover up David’s death.”
The room went silent.
I stared at Charles.
“Cover up?”
“Yes.”
“But he said he didn’t kill him.”
“No.”
“Who did?”
Charles looked at my father.
Then at me.
“Thomas Harrison Sr.”
My grandfather.
Rebecca sat down hard.
Dad whispered, “No.”
Charles continued.
“My father said David confronted your grandfather at the job site.”
“What happened?”
“They argued.”
“And?”
“David threatened to call federal investigators.”
My hands tightened.
“Then what?”
“My grandfather shoved him.”
Rebecca started crying.
Charles looked sick.
“He fell from the temporary platform.”
I covered my mouth.
“So the beam story?”
“Staged.”
Dad whispered, “Jesus.”
Charles continued.
“My father helped make it look like a construction failure.”
“Why?”
“Because your grandfather told him both companies would collapse.”
Rebecca laughed through tears.
“There it is again.”
Everybody looked at her.
“The company.”
She shook her head.
“Every man in this family destroys somebody and then says the company needed it.”
Dad looked away.
I stared at Charles.
“Why tell me now?”
“Because Margaret found out.”
I froze.
“What?”
“She confronted me shortly before she died.”
“You knew my mother?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell Dad?”
“She asked me not to.”
Dad stared at him.
“You sat on my board.”
“Yes.”
“You knew my father killed someone?”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing?”
Charles’s face hardened.
“My father helped hide it. You think I was proud?”
Dad stepped toward him.
The officer outside looked through the window.
I raised a hand.
“Sit down.”
Dad actually listened.
I asked Charles, “What did Margaret want?”
“She wanted me to help expose both families.”
“Did you agree?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t it happen?”
Charles stared at the flash drive.
“Because she died.”
“Did you know about Ryan?”
“Yes.”
Ryan looked surprised.
Charles continued.
“Margaret did not trust him.”
“Then why did she keep him involved?”
“Because he was good at tracing money.”
Ryan said nothing.
Charles looked at me.
“She planned to remove him from the investigation the week she died.”
Ryan’s expression changed.
I saw anger.
Real anger.
Not shock.
“You knew.”
I whispered.
He stared at Charles.
“You knew Mom was firing you.”
Ryan said nothing.
Charles continued.
“She believed Ryan had copied evidence and intended to use it for leverage.”
Dad laughed bitterly.
“Finally.”
I looked at Ryan.
“That’s why you went to the clinic.”
He shook his head.
“She called me.”
“Did she?”
“Yes.”
“Or did you go there because she was about to cut you out?”
“She called me.”
“Can you prove it?”
“No.”
Vanessa suddenly said, “Maybe the old phone can.”
We all turned toward her.
She pulled the phone from her purse.
“I took it from the bank.”
Ryan stood.
“That’s mine.”
Vanessa backed away.
“Sit down.”
“You stole it.”
“It was in the box you told me to protect.”
I looked at the phone.
“Can we charge it?”
Rebecca nodded.
“I have cables.”
Ten minutes later, the old phone lit up.
Ryan looked like he wanted to run.
Or destroy it.
Vanessa entered a passcode.
The phone unlocked.
I stared at her.
“How did you know?”
“His old anniversary.”
I almost asked whose.
Then decided I didn’t want the answer.
Messages loaded.
Old emails.
Voice recordings.
Photographs.
Vanessa searched Margaret.
Several files appeared.
One was dated the day my mother died.
An audio recording.
Ryan whispered, “Don’t.”
I looked at him.
Then pressed play.
My mother’s voice filled the room.
“Ryan, I know what you did.”
He answered.
“You don’t know anything.”
“I know you changed the beneficiary.”
My blood went cold.
“What beneficiary?”
I whispered.
No one answered.
The recording continued.
Ryan said, “Thomas authorized it.”
My mother snapped, “Thomas doesn’t know.”
Ryan’s face drained.
Dad looked at him.
“What beneficiary?”
The audio continued.
My mother coughed.
Then said, “If you go near Emily, I will destroy you.”
Ryan’s younger voice responded.
“You won’t be here long enough.”
Then the recording ended.
I stared at Ryan.
“Beneficiary of what?”
He didn’t answer.
Vanessa searched the phone.
A PDF appeared.
Insurance policy.
Not mine.
My mother’s.
Twenty-five million dollars.
Original beneficiary: Harrison Development.
Amendment filed six weeks before her death.
New distribution:
Fifteen million to Harrison Development.
Ten million to Red Cedar Holdings.
I stared at Ryan.
Red Cedar.
The company my mother had created.
Except the authorization showed another name beneath it.
Account controller:
Ryan Carter.
Dad lunged across the room.
“You stole ten million dollars from Margaret’s death.”
Ryan jumped backward.
The police rushed through the door.
Everyone shouted.
I barely heard any of it.
Because Vanessa had opened another document.
A transaction record.
The ten million had entered Red Cedar three days after my mother’s funeral.
Then almost all of it had moved somewhere else.
I looked at the destination.
Mercer Family Trust.
My biological father’s last name.
I stared at Rebecca.
She stared at me.
Charles whispered, “That trust was dissolved thirty years ago.”
Ryan said nothing.
I looked at him.
“Where did the money go?”
His face went cold.
“You really want to know?”
“Yes.”
He pointed at me.
“It went to you.”
The room became silent.
I shook my head.
“No.”
Ryan continued.
“Your mother redirected ten million dollars before she died.”
“You just said you controlled Red Cedar.”
“I moved it.”
“Where?”
“To an account created for David Mercer’s surviving child.”
My chest tightened.
“Me.”
“Yes.”
I stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because Margaret told me to.”
“That recording says she accused you of changing the beneficiary.”
“Because she didn’t know I had followed her original instructions.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It will.”
“When?”
Ryan looked toward the flash drive.
“When you open that.”
I reached for it.
He shook his head.
“Before you do, you need to understand something.”
“What?”
“The ten million dollars is still there.”
My heartbeat stopped.
“Where?”
Ryan looked directly at me.
“In an account nobody can access without your biometric authorization.”
I stared at him.
“I don’t know anything about an account.”
“I know.”
“Then how did you set it up?”
“I didn’t.”
“Who did?”
Ryan looked at Rebecca.
She went pale.
Then he said, “Margaret.”
My mother had left me ten million dollars.
Hidden it from my father.
Hidden it from me.
And apparently used Ryan to move it.
I looked at the flash drive.
“What else is on this?”
May you like
Ryan answered softly.
“The reason Margaret wanted you to have enough money to leave the Harrison family forever.”
