Chapter 18 - The Last Morning of Charles Hartwell
Elaine told them what happened in the coastal estate library.
Charles had summoned Ryan, Martin, and Sloane after finding evidence that employee retirement funds had been used to secure personal loans.
He intended to contact federal investigators.
Ryan begged him to wait.
Sloane threatened to expose years of false company statements signed by Charles.
The argument continued for nearly an hour.
Then Charles collapsed.
“He asked for his medication,” Elaine said.
“Did you give it to him?” Leah asked.
“I tried.”
Sloane took the bottle from her and claimed the tablets had expired. Martin called a private physician instead of emergency services.
By the time help arrived, Charles was gone.
Elaine had never known whether faster treatment would have saved him.
But she knew Sloane had controlled every decision made in those final minutes.
Afterward, he warned that an investigation would reveal Ryan’s crimes and destroy the company.
Elaine agreed to say Charles had died at the Vermont retreat.
Chloe’s voice shook.
“You let them rewrite his last day.”
“I was afraid of losing both my children.”
“You lost us by protecting the wrong one.”
Elaine closed her eyes.
Leah did not comfort her.
Some truths required space to hurt.
Daniel examined Charles’s watch. The model stored brief voice commands and emergency data.
The battery was dead, but its internal memory might still be recoverable.
Two days later, a technician extracted a damaged audio file.
Most of it was static.
May you like
Then Charles’s voice became clear.
Victor, if anything happens to me, the original ledger is behind the north wall.
