Chapter 6 - WHAT RICHARD PRESCOTT STOLE
Richard came to Nina’s office that evening with two lawyers.
Patricia came too.
She refused to look at me.
That was new.
At anniversary dinner, she had laughed harder than anyone.
Now she sat rigidly beside her husband while Nina placed my father’s agreement on the table.
Richard studied it.
Then sighed.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
“You knew.”
He looked at me.
“I knew the document existed.”
“You told Daniel my father had no connection to your company.”
“Prescott Transport failed. Prescott Logistics is a separate company.”
“Built using customers and routes you took from the old business.”
His attorney interrupted.
“We should be careful with terminology.”
I turned toward him.
“Then choose accurate terminology.”
Richard’s face hardened.
“You sound like Robert.”
That hurt in a way he didn’t understand.
“Good.”
Richard leaned back.
“Your father wasn’t a saint.”
“I never said he was.”
“He threatened me.”
“Over a contract you signed?”
“He wanted control.”
“He wanted what you promised.”
Patricia finally spoke.
“You have no idea what happened.”
I looked at her.
“Then explain why you laughed while your son called me a freeloader after my inheritance funded the company keeping your entire family wealthy.”
She went silent.
Richard looked down.
For the first time, embarrassment entered the room.
Not remorse.
Embarrassment.
Nina brought up another document.
“Mr. Prescott, did you transfer Prescott Transport customer contracts into RCP Holdings three months before bankruptcy?”
Richard didn’t answer.
His lawyer said:
“My client won’t respond to unsupported allegations.”
Nina slid the filing across the table.
“State records are inconveniently supportive.”
Richard’s lawyer read it.
His expression changed.
Nina continued.
“RCP Holdings later transferred many of those same contracts to Daniel when Prescott Logistics launched.”
I turned toward Daniel.
He looked stunned.
“You told me they were dormant family contacts.”
Richard snapped:
“They were.”
“No,” Nina said. “Some were subject to Robert Hale’s contingent ownership rights.”
Daniel stared at his father.
“You used Claire’s father’s assets to start my company?”
Richard’s face tightened.
“Our company.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“Funny. Yesterday you told me Claire was trying to steal it.”
Patricia grabbed her purse.
“We are leaving.”
“No,” Daniel said.
Everyone looked at him.
For the first time in nine years, he spoke to his mother without shrinking.
“Sit down.”
Her face changed.
Daniel turned to his father.
“Did you know Claire owned fifty-one percent?”
“Of course.”
“Did you know her father had a claim?”
“Yes.”
“And you still pushed me to forge the amendment?”
Richard looked at me.
“I never told you to forge anything.”
Daniel laughed.
“You handed me the paper.”
“Because I believed Claire would sign.”
“She didn’t.”
Richard’s voice became cold.
“That decision was yours.”
The alliance broke right there.
Daniel stared at his father as if finally seeing him.
“You’re going to put this on me.”
Richard’s lawyer whispered:
“Daniel, I strongly suggest you stop speaking.”
Daniel ignored him.
“Mom knew too.”
Patricia snapped:
“Daniel.”
“She knew about Melissa’s notarization.”
“Stop.”
“She knew about Northstar.”
“Enough!”
Daniel stood.
“No. You wanted Claire gone because you thought Ridgeway would expose Dad if she looked at the books.”
I felt something inside me settle.
That was the motive.
Not just Daniel’s debt.
Not just my ownership.
Richard and Patricia had spent years terrified that I would eventually connect Prescott Logistics to my father’s old claim.
And once Daniel’s gambling threatened to expose everything, they decided I was the easier problem to remove.
I looked at Richard.
“You were going to erase my ownership before Ridgeway forced discovery.”
He said nothing.
That was enough.
Nina’s assistant entered.
“Nina, Marcus found the Lake Ridge property.”
“What property?”
She handed over a report.
Lake Ridge Holdings had purchased a house eleven months earlier.
Purchase price:
$1.6 million.
Paid partly from Daniel’s private loan.
Partly from Prescott Logistics transfers.
Title owners:
Richard and Patricia Prescott.
Daniel looked at his parents.
“You bought a house?”
Patricia went pale.
Richard said nothing.
Melissa’s $75,000.
Northstar.
Lake Ridge.
The money hadn’t only been covering Daniel’s debts.
His parents had been stealing too.
Then Marcus called.
Nina put him on speaker.
“I found something worse.”
I almost laughed from exhaustion.
“What now?”
“The Lake Ridge closing statement includes a second buyer contribution.”
“How much?”
“Six hundred forty thousand dollars.”
My chest tightened.
Exactly the amount I had invested in Prescott Logistics nine years earlier.
“From who?”
Marcus answered:
“Robert Hale Estate Reserve.”
May you like
My father’s estate.
A reserve account I had never known existed.
