Chapter 5 - THE NIGHT SADIE FELL
Memory did not return like a movie.
It returned in pieces.
White railing.
Her father's cologne.
A hand near her shoulder.
The sound of Richard saying, "Stop fighting me."
Then air.
Sadie backed away from Charles.
"No."
Charles looked devastated.
"I am sorry."
"No. I slipped."
"That's what they told you."
"I was nine."
"You had seen something."
Sadie's mouth went dry.
"What?"
Charles looked toward Victoria.
"Tell her."
Victoria shook her head.
"Charles."
"Tell her."
Victoria's face collapsed.
"The night before you fell, you came into our bedroom."
Sadie stared.
"You had a nightmare," Victoria continued. "You heard your father speaking to someone in his study."
"Who?"
"Malcolm Reed."
Sadie knew the name.
Former chief financial officer of Carter Meridian.
Richard's oldest friend.
"You overheard them talking about forged documents."
"I was nine."
"You didn't understand the words. But you saw them burning papers."
Sadie pressed fingers to her forehead.
A smell surfaced.
Smoke.
Leather.
Something metallic.
"I told Grandfather."
Charles nodded.
"You told me your father and Malcolm were burning papers with my signature."
Sadie's knees weakened.
"I confronted Richard privately."
Charles looked toward the window.
"That was my mistake."
Wyatt's voice was low.
"He knew she had seen him."
"Yes."
Sadie whispered, "So he pushed me."
Victoria began crying.
"I didn't know until later."
Sadie looked at her.
"How much later?"
Victoria could not answer.
"How much later?"
"Two days."
Sadie stared at her mother.
"And you stayed."
"I had Melanie."
"What does Melanie have to do with this?"
Charles interrupted.
"Everything."
He reached beneath the blanket over his knees.
From a hidden pocket, he removed a small brass key.
"There's a safe beneath the floorboards in the old greenhouse."
Sadie took it.
"What's inside?"
"The original trust instrument."
Victoria gasped.
"I thought Richard found it."
Charles looked at her.
"He found a decoy."
A sound came from downstairs.
A door slammed.
Victoria went white.
"He's home."
Richard's voice carried through the hallway.
"Victoria?"
Wyatt moved toward the door.
Charles gripped Sadie's wrist.
"Do not let him know you saw me."
"He's holding you prisoner."
"He believes I'm too weak to act."
"You are weak."
Charles smiled.
"Physically."
Richard called again.
"Victoria!"
Victoria pushed Sadie and Wyatt toward a small connecting bathroom.
"Go."
Sadie resisted.
"I'm not leaving him."
Charles's voice sharpened.
"You want to beat your father?"
She looked at him.
"Then stop reacting emotionally and start understanding the board."
He pointed toward the bathroom.
"Go."
Wyatt pulled Sadie inside.
Victoria closed the connecting door.
Through the thin wall, Sadie heard Richard enter.
"What took you so long?"
"Charles needed medication."
"Did anyone come here?"
"No."
A pause.
Then Richard said, "Sadie knows about the will."
Victoria's breathing caught.
"How?"
"Harrison."
"What are you going to do?"
Another pause.
Then Richard answered.
"What I should have done nineteen years ago."
Sadie gripped Wyatt's hand.
May you like
Richard's next words followed them all the way out through the service corridor.
"This time, she won't get up."
