Chapter 9 - MY FATHER WANTED THE COMPANY BACK
I could not breathe.
Nobody in the conference room moved.
“Audrey?”
I put the phone on speaker.
My mother whispered:
“Michael.”
Silence.
Then my father said:
“Evelyn.”
Mom sat down.
Not dramatically.
Like her legs had stopped working.
I wanted to ask a thousand questions.
Instead, one came out.
“Why?”
My father knew exactly what I meant.
“I made a decision I thought would protect you.”
“For twelve years?”
“I couldn’t come back.”
“You could call.”
“No.”
“You could write.”
“No.”
“You sent Daniel.”
“Yes.”
The admission hit like cold water.
“You sent a man into my life.”
“Yes.”
“Did you tell him to marry me?”
“No.”
“Did you tell him to sleep with my sister?”
Silence.
“Chloe is not your sister in the way you think.”
I looked at Mom.
Her eyes narrowed.
“What does that mean?”
Michael continued:
“Gabrielle lied about Chloe’s paternity.”
My mother whispered:
“You believed her.”
“I did.”
My head hurt.
“So Chloe isn’t your daughter?”
“No.”
“Then whose?”
“I don’t know.”
“You let Mom believe Dad had another child?”
“I believed it myself until eight months ago.”
“Then why does Chloe have Meridian rights?”
“Because Gabrielle forged the original settlement.”
Everything we understood was collapsing again.
“Daniel discovered it?”
“Yes.”
“Is that why he was taking her to Zurich?”
“He was bringing her to me.”
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
“Because we didn’t know who inside Sterling Global was compromised.”
I looked at William.
He looked away.
“How many?”
“More than you want to know.”
“Try me.”
My father ignored that.
“Daniel was supposed to remove the Meridian key before anyone realized he was leaving.”
“He took money.”
“He moved money.”
“Without authorization.”
“To trace the recipients.”
“That sounds convenient.”
“It should.”
His voice hardened.
“You are your mother’s daughter.”
Mom almost smiled despite everything.
I didn’t.
“Did Daniel have an affair with Chloe?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Chloe is married.”
That stopped everyone.
“What?”
“To Thomas Reed.”
My mother stood.
“No.”
Dad continued:
“They married four years ago.”
My brain refused.
Thomas appeared thirty years older than Chloe.
Dad said:
“The man you saw in the garage is not Thomas Reed.”
Of course.
Another identity.
“Who is he?”
“Thomas’s son.”
I gripped the table.
“His name?”
“Elias Reed.”
“Why does everyone believe he’s Thomas?”
“Because Thomas wanted it that way.”
“Where is the real Thomas?”
“Dead.”
Finally, perhaps one person actually was.
“How?”
Dad paused.
“Daniel killed him.”
The room went silent.
I stared at the phone.
“What?”
“Six years ago.”
“No.”
“Thomas attacked Chloe. Daniel intervened.”
“You’re saying my husband killed a man?”
“Yes.”
“Police?”
“There were none.”
“Why?”
“Because Thomas had already been legally dead for years.”
I shut my eyes.
This was insanity.
My father continued:
“Daniel helped Chloe disappear from Thomas’s network. That is how they became close.”
“But the airport picture?”
“Performance.”
“For who?”
“The person monitoring Daniel.”
“Who?”
Another pause.
“I don’t know.”
That answer frightened me more than everything else.
My supposedly dead father had orchestrated people for years and still didn’t know who the final player was.
Then Rebecca’s laptop chimed.
A transfer alert.
Every frozen Sterling account suddenly unlocked.
Not ours.
The bank’s systems had been overridden by a founder-level emergency authorization.
E.S.-17.
My father’s code.
I stared at the speaker.
“Did you just unlock the accounts?”
“No.”
“Someone did.”
Dad’s voice changed.
“Then get out of headquarters.”
“What?”
“Now.”
Security alarms sounded downstairs.
Rebecca ran toward the conference-room monitor.
Multiple executive-floor badges had just been disabled.
Elevators locked.
Emergency shutters activated.
My father shouted through the phone:
“Audrey, whoever activated E.S.-17 has the original founder token.”
“So?”
“So I have the only legitimate one.”
My blood went cold.
A message appeared on the conference-room screen.
Not emailed.
Directly injected into the internal display system.
WELCOME BACK, AUDREY.
Then:
YOUR FATHER HAS LIED LONG ENOUGH.
May you like
The final line appeared more slowly.
ASK EVELYN WHO DIED IN MICHAEL'S PLACE.
