Chapter 6 - THE PRICE OF KEEPING QUIET
Victor Sloane appeared at Skylar’s father’s rehabilitation facility two days later.
That was his second mistake.
His first had been assuming Skylar could be bought.
Elias was attending a therapy session when Victor entered the private consultation room.
He wore an expensive gray suit and carried a leather briefcase.
“Dr. Hastings.”
Elias stared.
“Get out.”
Victor smiled.
“I came to discuss your daughter.”
“My daughter has nothing to discuss with you.”
“That is precisely the problem.”
Victor placed an envelope on the table.
Inside was a financial proposal.
Full payment of Elias’s remaining medical debt.
A generous lifetime care allowance.
And a substantial research grant for Skylar.
All funded through an independent charitable entity.
Elias read the first page.
Then looked up.
“What do you want?”
“Public clarification.”
“Of what?”
“That your original concerns were preliminary and that subsequent documentation resolved them.”
Elias laughed bitterly.
“The subsequent documentation carries my forged signature.”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
“You should be careful with that word.”
Elias pressed the call button beside his wheelchair.
Victor looked toward the door.
“Do you really want another scandal?”
“I want you out of my room.”
A rehabilitation nurse entered.
Victor left.
But before he reached the corridor, he leaned toward Elias.
“Your daughter is talented. It would be unfortunate if her future ended the way your career did.”
The nurse heard him.
So did the facility’s hallway camera.
Within an hour, Skylar had a copy of the incident report.
She was furious.
She wanted to confront Victor herself.
Henrik advised against it.
Leila recommended preserving the evidence.
Dominic made one phone call.
Not to threaten Victor.
To remove him from every Hayes Technologies system pending the investigation.
By evening, Victor’s building access had been revoked.
His corporate cards were suspended.
His legal team had been instructed to preserve all relevant files.
Dominic’s chief financial officer warned that the move could frighten investors.
Dominic answered:
“Good. They should be asking questions.”
Skylar heard about the decision from Henrik.
She did not call Dominic to thank him.
That surprised him more than he wanted to admit.
The next morning, she returned to her father.
Elias looked exhausted.
“Did they hurt you?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
He took her hand.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For bringing this into your life.”
Skylar sat beside him.
“You didn’t choose to be hit by a truck.”
“No.”
“But I chose to work for Aurelian.”
“You didn’t know what they were doing.”
Elias looked away.
Then he said something that made her heart stop.
“I knew enough to be suspicious.”
Skylar stared.
“What?”
He explained that the first group of artifacts had arrived with incomplete ownership histories.
Victor offered him a generous fee to perform a preliminary review.
Elias accepted because Skylar’s doctoral research had become expensive and the family’s savings were already strained.
“I told myself I was only evaluating the objects,” he said.
“Not endorsing the ownership claims.”
“But Victor used your assessment.”
“Yes.”
“Then you withdrew it.”
“After I found the Iraqi collection photographs.”
Skylar swallowed.
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“Because I was ashamed that I had accepted the assignment in the first place.”
She looked at him for a long time.
Her father was not the villain.
But he was not completely free of responsibility either.
That hurt.
Then Elias reached beneath his wheelchair cushion and removed a folded sheet of paper.
“I kept one thing Victor never found.”
Skylar stared.
“What is it?”
“A list of the people present when I withdrew my approval.”
There were four names.
Victor Sloane.
Aurelian’s legal counsel, Olivia Rourke.
An unidentified private collector.
And Dominic Hayes.
Skylar looked up sharply.
“Dominic was there?”
Elias shook his head.
“No.”
“Then why is his name on the list?”
“Because Victor told everyone the meeting was being recorded for Dominic.”
May you like
Her father swallowed.
“And when I demanded confirmation, a voice on the conference speaker told me to stop asking questions and sign.”
