Chapter 2 - THE ASHFORD WARNING
At nine the next morning, three black SUVs pulled into Arthur’s driveway.
Maya saw them through the kitchen window.
Her face immediately changed.
Arthur noticed.
“Stay inside.”
“Mr. Arthur—”
“You don’t have to be afraid in this house anymore.”
Charles Ashford entered without waiting to be invited.
Sixty-three years old.
Silver hair.
Tailored charcoal suit.
The confidence of a man who had spent decades assuming every room belonged to him.
Victoria followed him.
Beside her walked her older brother, Marcus.
Charles glanced around the foyer.
“Where is my daughter’s luggage?”
Arthur remained near the fireplace.
“Still upstairs.”
“Have someone bring it down.”
“No.”
Charles slowly looked at him.
“No?”
“Victoria can collect her belongings after my attorney arranges it.”
Victoria laughed bitterly.
“Your attorney?”
Arthur ignored her.
Charles stepped closer.
“You embarrassed my daughter.”
“She attacked people in my home.”
“She disciplined employees.”
“They were children.”
Charles’s expression barely changed.
“Then perhaps their mother should have controlled them.”
Maya heard every word from the hallway.
Arthur’s voice dropped.
“Be very careful what you say next.”
Charles smiled.
“You think because you built a successful company, you can threaten me?”
“No.”
Arthur walked toward his desk.
“I think I can threaten you because I know about Halcyon Holdings.”
Charles stopped smiling.
Marcus blinked.
Victoria’s face lost its color.
Arthur saw it.
That reaction confirmed everything.
Charles recovered first.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Arthur removed a copy of the audit.
“Then this should be educational.”
Charles didn’t touch it.
Arthur continued.
“Halcyon Holdings received twelve million dollars from three Ashford investment funds.”
Silence.
“Another six point four million moved through Crestline Consulting.”
Marcus looked toward Victoria.
Arthur noticed.
“And several payments were authorized using my company’s vendor credentials.”
Charles finally spoke.
“You’ve been digging into my business?”
“Your business started appearing inside mine.”
Victoria stepped forward.
“Arthur, don’t do this.”
He looked at her.
It was the first time she had sounded afraid.
“Why?”
“Because you don’t understand what you’re looking at.”
“Then explain your signature.”
Victoria froze.
Arthur placed the page on the table.
Her signature appeared beneath a transfer authorization.
Charles turned toward his daughter.
“You signed that?”
Victoria’s eyes moved rapidly between them.
“You told me it was routine.”
Charles’s expression changed.
Arthur saw something unexpected.
Victoria might have participated.
But she might not know everything.
Marcus suddenly grabbed the report.
He scanned the page.
“Dad, what is this?”
Charles ripped it from his hands.
“This conversation is over.”
Arthur shook his head.
“It hasn’t started.”
Charles stepped close enough that only a few inches separated them.
“You have forty-eight hours to apologize publicly to Victoria and bring her back into this house.”
“And if I don’t?”
“I’ll make sure Sterling Development loses every lender, contractor, and investor connected to us.”
Arthur almost smiled.
“That sounds like a threat.”
“It’s a promise.”
Arthur reached toward a small device on the table.
A red light was blinking.
Charles stared at it.
Arthur said quietly, “Thank you.”
Charles’s face hardened.
“For what?”
“For saying that clearly.”
Arthur picked up the recorder.
“My attorney hates ambiguity.”
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then Charles turned toward Victoria.
“Come.”
They headed for the door.
Marcus remained behind for half a second.
He looked at Arthur.
There was fear in his eyes.
Not anger.
Fear.
Then he whispered something Arthur barely heard.
“Check the Harbor Street property.”
Arthur frowned.
Marcus immediately followed his father outside.
Twenty seconds later, the SUVs disappeared.
Arthur stood in the doorway.
Harbor Street.
He knew the address.
It was an abandoned Ashford warehouse near the river.
But according to city records, the building had been empty for eleven years.
May you like
Arthur looked down at the audit.
Apparently, it wasn’t.
