Chapter 8 - The Woman Daniel Almost Married)
Daniel wanted to go after them himself.
Jonathan stopped him.
“You have Emily upstairs.”
Daniel knew he was right.
Michael contacted private security and the authorities with the evidence of fraud, forged signatures and the missing ledger.
Daniel hated waiting.
For years he had built companies by acting faster than competitors.
But this was not business.
One reckless decision could put Emily closer to danger.
Twenty-three minutes later, Rebecca called again.
This time from Margaret’s phone.
“Daniel.”
“Where are you?”
“At my mother’s house.”
“Is Andrew there?”
“No.”
“Where is Margaret?”
“In the kitchen.”
“Are you safe?”
Rebecca laughed bitterly.
“You still ask that?”
“I’m asking because I need to know.”
A long silence.
Then Rebecca said, “Yes.”
Daniel sat down.
“What happened?”
“Andrew drove us away from the chapel. He said he could fix everything.”
“By doing what?”
“Getting the ledger and leaving.”
“Why did you give it to him?”
“I didn’t know what it proved.”
“You stole it.”
“My mother had it.”
Daniel frowned.
“Where did she get it?”
“From my father.”
The room went silent.
Jonathan moved closer.
Rebecca continued.
“My father found it in Charles Miles’s office shortly before he died. He hid it because he was afraid.”
“Afraid of Andrew?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel heard her crying.
It was quiet, restrained.
“Rebecca, why did you come after me?”
She did not answer.
“You knew who I was.”
“Yes.”
“You knew who Laura was.”
“Yes.”
“You planned the relationship.”
“At first.”
The words hurt even though Daniel expected them.
“You met me on purpose.”
“Yes.”
“Because of the trust?”
“No.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“Don’t lie now.”
“I’m not.”
“Then why?”
Rebecca took a shaky breath.
“Because I wanted you to hurt.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
There it was.
“I wanted to make you love me,” she said. “Then I wanted to leave.”
Daniel said nothing.
“I wanted you to understand what my mother said your wife had done to us.”
“And when did money become part of it?”
“Later.”
“How much later?”
“After I found Laura’s letter at the lake house.”
Daniel stared at the floor.
Rebecca continued.
“I learned about Emily’s trust. Mother said the Bellweather assets belonged to us. She said Laura had built Emily’s fortune from money taken from our family.”
“So you decided to take it back.”
“Yes.”
“And Andrew?”
“He contacted Mother after we requested old Bellweather records.”
Daniel looked at Jonathan.
“He said he could prove Laura framed my family. He gave us documents. Some were real. Some, I realize now, were probably fake.”
“Why help him with Carter Holdings?”
“Because he said the company contained assets originally bought with Bellweather money.”
“And you believed him?”
“I wanted to.”
Daniel understood that sentence more than he wanted to.
People believed convenient lies when those lies protected the version of themselves they preferred.
Daniel asked, “Whose idea was Hawthorne Ridge?”
Rebecca went silent.
His anger returned.
“Rebecca.”
“Mine.”
Emily’s bedroom upstairs suddenly felt very far away.
“You planned to send my daughter away for twelve months.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Rebecca began crying harder.
“Because she looked at me like Laura was still in the room.”
Daniel said nothing.
“She remembered things. She asked questions. She kept photographs. Every time I saw her, I remembered what I was doing.”
“So you punished her for making you feel guilty.”
Rebecca whispered, “Yes.”
It was the first completely honest answer she had given him.
Daniel felt no satisfaction.
“Did you ever hurt her physically?”
“No.”
“Did your mother?”
“No.”
“Did you threaten her?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“Yes.”
Daniel stood.
Jonathan watched him carefully.
Rebecca said, “I’m sorry.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Do not apologize to me.”
“I know.”
“No. I don’t think you do.”
His voice shook now.
“You made a seven-year-old believe her father would stop loving her.”
Rebecca sobbed.
“You told her she would lose her home.”
“I know.”
“You touched her mother’s things. You stole Laura’s final letter. You forged my signature.”
“I know.”
“You do not get to repair those things by telling me you are sorry.”
“I know.”
Daniel took a breath.
“Where is Andrew?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did he say when he left?”
Rebecca became quiet.
Then she whispered, “He said he was going to finish what his father started.”
Jonathan frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Rebecca heard him.
“I don’t know.”
Daniel asked, “Did he mention the company?”
“Yes.”
“What exactly?”
“He said by tomorrow morning Carter Holdings would owe him everything.”
Daniel looked at Jonathan.
Jonathan moved quickly to his laptop.
A hostile financial action.
A forged transfer.
A hidden debt.
Something Andrew had prepared over years.
Rebecca said, “Daniel, there’s something else.”
“What?”
“Andrew knows your passwords.”
“No, he doesn’t.”
“He knows how you create them.”
Daniel felt cold.
Rebecca continued.
“He told me you always use dates that matter to you.”
Daniel’s mind raced.
He had changed that habit years ago.
But older corporate archives still used legacy recovery questions.
Andrew had administered them.
Jonathan looked up.
“We need your IT director.”
Daniel called immediately.
The company security team began locking systems.
Then Rebecca said, “I know where Andrew might go.”
Daniel stopped.
“Where?”
“Your old headquarters.”
Daniel frowned.
The building had been mostly empty for two years after Carter Holdings moved downtown.
“Why?”
“Because the original Merritt acquisition server is still there.”
Jonathan looked sharply at Daniel.
Daniel remembered.
Old finance servers had been retained offline for regulatory archiving.
Andrew would know.
Rebecca continued.
“He said electronic records can be rewritten.”
Jonathan whispered, “Not the physical backups.”
Daniel finished the thought.
“But he can destroy them.”
Daniel told Rebecca to stay at Margaret’s house.
Then he called Michael.
Before leaving, Daniel went upstairs.
Emily was awake.
She looked at his coat.
“You’re going somewhere.”
“Yes.”
“Is it dangerous?”
“I’m going with Uncle Michael and other people.”
Emily looked worried.
Daniel sat beside her.
“I will come back.”
She studied him.
“Promise?”
Daniel thought of Laura.
Promises had weight.
“I promise I will do everything I can to come back.”
Emily nodded.
Daniel kissed her forehead.
As he reached the door, Emily said, “Daddy.”
He turned.
“Mom would be proud you believed me.”
Daniel could not speak for a moment.
Then he smiled.
“I hope so.”
He closed the door.
Downstairs, Jonathan was staring at his laptop.
“What?”
Daniel asked.
Jonathan turned the screen.
Andrew had initiated a transaction seventeen minutes earlier.
Not from Carter Holdings.
From Daniel’s personal investment company.
Two hundred and forty million dollars had been pledged as collateral against a private debt.
Daniel stared.
“Debt to whom?”
Jonathan opened the lender information.
Merritt Strategic Holdings.
Daniel’s blood ran cold.
Andrew had created a debt owed to his own company.
And he had used Daniel’s stolen credentials to secure it.
Jonathan looked at him.
“If this executes in the morning, Andrew can trigger default.”
Michael understood.
“And seize the collateral.”
Daniel asked, “What collateral?”
Jonathan scrolled.
Then stopped.
His face changed.
“Daniel.”
“What?”
“It’s not just stock.”
Jonathan turned the screen.
The collateral list included Carter Holdings shares, three commercial properties, the lake house and a controlling interest in the investment fund connected to Emily’s trust.
Daniel stared.
May you like
Andrew had not been helping Rebecca steal Emily’s inheritance.
He was trying to take everything.
