Chapter 8 - THE SIN CHARLES BURIED
Charles did not deny knowing about the sabotage.
That frightened everyone.
We returned to the hotel shortly before midnight.
The ballroom had been emptied.
Only family, attorneys, federal agents, and several board members remained.
I placed the newspaper clipping on the conference table.
“Explain.”
Charles looked at the handwriting.
His shoulders dropped.
“I hoped Eleanor destroyed this.”
“Explain.”
Carter stared at his father.
“Was Serena’s father murdered?”
“We never proved Thomas was her father.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Charles poured himself a glass of water.
His hand shook.
“Thomas Vale had enemies.”
“So did my grandmother.”
“Thomas stole from people who didn’t file lawsuits.”
Richard leaned forward.
“He also threatened to expose you.”
Charles glared at him.
“Stay out of this.”
“No.”
I slammed my palm against the table.
“Everyone stops telling everyone else to stay out of things.”
Silence.
I looked at Charles.
“What happened in Boston?”
He stared into the water.
“Thomas asked me to meet him privately.”
“Why?”
“He had documents showing Nathaniel was diverting investor funds through offshore partnerships.”
My stomach tightened.
“Nathaniel was stealing thirty-three years ago?”
“Yes.”
“Why wasn’t he arrested?”
“Because Thomas died the next day.”
“And you buried the evidence.”
Charles looked up.
“Yes.”
Carter stood.
“You protected Nathaniel?”
“I protected the company.”
“You always say that.”
For the first time, Carter sounded disgusted rather than defensive.
“The company. The family. The legacy. Every terrible thing becomes acceptable if you put one of those words after it.”
Charles looked wounded.
Carter continued.
“Did you know Thomas’s plane was sabotaged?”
“No.”
“But you suspected it.”
“Yes.”
“And you still kept Nathaniel beside you for thirty years?”
Charles shouted, “I couldn’t prove it was him!”
Richard laughed bitterly.
“You could have tried.”
Charles turned on him.
“You think Eleanor was innocent? She made the same decision.”
That stopped everyone.
I stared at him.
“My grandmother knew?”
“She suspected Nathaniel too.”
“Then why keep him?”
Charles’s answer was almost a whisper.
“Because she needed him.”
“For what?”
Charles looked at Richard.
Richard seemed suddenly unwilling to speak.
I felt anger rise.
“For what?”
Charles walked toward the window.
“Thomas Vale didn’t merely discover Nathaniel’s theft.”
He turned.
“He discovered something about Harrington Global.”
“What?”
“Our original fortune.”
Carter frowned.
“What about it?”
Charles looked ashamed.
“It wasn’t originally Harrington money.”
Nobody moved.
I whispered, “Whose was it?”
Charles looked at me.
“The Sterling family’s.”
My grandmother’s family.
The room seemed to tilt.
Charles continued.
“My father and Eleanor’s father were business partners. After the 1974 market collapse, my father manipulated ownership documents and took control.”
Carter sat slowly.
“You built our family empire on stolen assets?”
“My father did.”
“And Grandmother Eleanor knew?”
“She discovered it decades later.”
I understood.
“That’s why she rescued Harrington Global.”
Charles nodded.
“She wasn’t saving us.”
Richard finished the sentence.
“She was reclaiming what had always belonged to Serena’s family.”
Then Agent Reeves entered holding a phone.
“We found Nathaniel.”
“Where?”
Reeves looked at me.
“He was captured at LaGuardia.”
Relief hit the room.
But Reeves wasn’t smiling.
“There’s a problem.”
“What?”
“He says he’ll confess to every financial crime if Serena speaks to him privately.”
I crossed my arms.
“Why?”
May you like
Reeves hesitated.
“Because he claims Carter isn’t Charles Harrington’s biological son.”
