Chapter 6 - THE BOX ON THE DRIVEWAY
Nathan opened the front door before Jonathan reached it.
Jonathan stumbled inside.
“Lock it.”
Nathan did.
“What happened?”
Jonathan looked through the glass.
The second vehicle slowed.
Then continued past.
He pressed both hands against the wall.
“Charles has people following me.”
I stared at him.
“You expect sympathy?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Thomas went outside long enough to retrieve the box.
When he returned, we carried everything into my office.
There were printed emails.
Bank transfers.
Photographs.
Corporate drafts.
And an entire folder labeled E.C. TRANSITION.
Emily Carter.
My daughter had become a project name.
I opened the folder.
The first document was a timeline.
Wedding.
Reception.
Monday transport.
Emergency hearing Tuesday.
Board meeting Wednesday.
If their plan worked, Emily would be gone before I understood what was happening.
By Wednesday, Jonathan would control my voting rights.
Wynn Capital would offer an emergency financing package.
By Friday, Charles Wynn would effectively control Carter Development.
I looked at Jonathan.
“You agreed to this.”
“At first, I thought Emily would stay with Rebecca’s relatives for a few weeks.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
He rubbed his face.
“I don’t expect you to believe anything.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because I saw where they were actually sending her.”
“Hawthorne?”
He nodded.
Thomas opened another file.
Hawthorne Behavioral Academy was in another state.
Its marketing described therapeutic education.
But the documents in the box showed Rebecca had requested a restricted-contact placement.
I read the line twice.
No unsupervised communication with parent for initial thirty-day adjustment period.
My vision blurred.
For thirty days I would not have been allowed to speak privately to my own daughter.
Emily would have believed I sent her away.
Exactly as Rebecca’s note claimed.
“Why would she tell Emily I agreed?” I asked.
Jonathan looked ashamed.
“Because they needed Emily to stop trusting you.”
I stared at him.
“That makes no sense.”
“It does if they want her statements to support their case.”
Thomas understood first.
“They wanted the child to say her father abandoned her.”
Jonathan nodded.
Rebecca planned to take Emily away.
Then convince her I had chosen my new wife over her.
When Emily became frightened and angry, those reactions would be documented.
Then Rebecca and Mercer could describe our relationship as emotionally unstable.
It was sick.
Not brilliant.
Not sophisticated.
Just sick.
My phone vibrated again.
A message from Rebecca.
You have no idea what you’ve destroyed today.
Another arrived.
Call me before your lawyer makes this worse.
I showed Thomas.
“Don’t respond.”
A third message appeared.
Ask Jonathan what he was promised.
We all looked at him.
Jonathan’s shoulders dropped.
Nathan stepped toward him.
“What were you promised?”
“Money.”
“How much?”
“Five million.”
I felt nothing.
Not surprise.
Not anger.
Just confirmation.
“And?”
Jonathan looked at the floor.
“The CEO position after the merger.”
Nathan laughed without humor.
“Our father trusted you.”
Jonathan’s eyes reddened.
“I know.”
“No.”
Nathan pointed toward the door.
“You knew him.”
“That’s different.”
Thomas kept going through the box.
Then he found something that made him stop.
“Daniel.”
He handed me a photograph.
It had been taken outside a restaurant.
Rebecca sat at a table with Charles.
Beside them was Dr. Mercer.
And one other man.
I recognized him immediately.
Judge Stephen Collier.
The judge listed on the draft emergency petition.
Thomas stared at the photo.
“If this is what it looks like, they may have tried to influence the hearing before it was even filed.”
Jonathan nodded.
“Charles donated heavily to Collier’s judicial campaign.”
My hands tightened around the photograph.
Then I noticed the date.
The dinner happened nine months ago.
Three weeks before Rebecca moved into my home.
The planning had started long before our engagement.
Possibly before Rebecca ever said she loved me.
Nathan suddenly reached into the bottom of the box.
“There’s a flash drive.”
Jonathan looked up sharply.
“I wondered where that went.”
“What’s on it?”
He hesitated.
“A recording.”
“Of who?”
“Rebecca and Charles.”
My pulse accelerated.
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“What are they talking about?”
Jonathan looked toward the doorway where Emily had disappeared upstairs with my mother.
Then he looked back at me.
“Laura.”
For several seconds I couldn’t speak.
My dead wife had never met Rebecca.
At least that was what I believed.
May you like
Jonathan swallowed.
“Daniel, there is something about Laura’s estate you don’t know.”
