Chapter 7 - MY SON HAD BEEN USED AS A SIGNATURE
The account had existed for fourteen months.
Deposits came from three sources.
Eric’s company.
A Mercer-controlled consulting firm.
And a trust I had never heard of.
Withdrawals went somewhere else.
Private school tuition for Madison’s niece.
A vacation property lease.
Luxury purchases.
Frank’s consulting fees.
Eric stared at his wife.
“You used my identity.”
Madison cried for the first time.
But I had lived long enough to know tears are evidence of emotion, not innocence.
“I was fixing things.”
“You keep saying that.”
Eric’s voice broke.
“My company is almost bankrupt.”
“I know.”
“You knew?”
“That’s why I had to create options.”
“By stealing from me?”
“I never stole from you.”
Frank finally spoke.
“Enough.”
Madison turned on him.
“No, you said this would protect us.”
“Be quiet.”
Her expression changed.
There it was again.
Fear.
Not of me.
Of Frank.
I looked at Samuel.
He saw it too.
Frank had leverage over her.
I asked, “What does he have on you?”
Madison looked at me.
“Nothing.”
Frank smiled.
“Thomas, don’t play detective.”
“I don’t have to.”
I pointed toward Madison.
“She is terrified of you.”
Eric looked between them.
“Why?”
Madison shook her head.
Frank moved toward the door.
“This conversation is over.”
“No,” I said.
He stopped.
Samuel closed the library doors.
Not locked.
Just closed.
A boundary.
Frank’s jaw tightened.
I continued.
“Eleanor believed you were after the ranch.”
“I was interested in correcting history.”
“What history?”
“You stole Hale Manufacturing from me.”
I laughed.
“I bought your shares after you diverted company money.”
Eric stared at him.
Frank’s face darkened.
That old wound was still alive.
“You humiliated me.”
“You humiliated yourself.”
Then Madison suddenly said, “He has videos.”
Everyone looked at her.
Frank went still.
Eric whispered, “What videos?”
Madison began crying harder.
“Meetings. Conversations. Things he made me say.”
Frank snapped, “Madison.”
She ignored him.
“He told me if I walked away, he’d send everything to Eric and make it look like I planned all of it.”
Eric stared at her.
“Didn’t you?”
She shook her head.
“At first, no.”
At first.
Two dangerous words.
Then she looked at me.
“I only wanted to know what you owned.”
“What changed?”
Her eyes moved toward Frank.
“He told me Eleanor was going to leave Eric nothing.”
I went still.
“That is a lie.”
Madison whispered:
“I know that now.”
Then Eric pulled something from his coat pocket.
A letter.
His mother’s handwriting.
“I found this in Mom’s desk.”
May you like
And on the front, Eleanor had written:
FOR ERIC ONLY — IF MADISON EVER FORCES THOMAS OUT.
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