Chapter 3 - Arthur Harrington’s Last Warning
The library doors closed behind Emily.
Daniel locked them.
Michael immediately crossed to the windows and pulled the curtains.
Emily noticed.
“Are we expecting someone?”
“We’re expecting Preston to become desperate.”
Daniel placed the black case on her father’s desk.
Emily lowered herself carefully into the leather chair.
Her knees were throbbing.
The baby shifted again.
Daniel noticed.
“Do you need a doctor?”
“No.”
Emily looked toward the door.
“I need answers.”
Michael remained standing.
Daniel sat across from her.
“Dr. Marcus Bell was found dead approximately twenty minutes ago.”
Emily swallowed.
“How?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“And Vanessa knew before you?”
“That concerns me.”
Daniel looked toward Michael.
Michael nodded.
“We need to assume Preston still has people inside the house.”
Emily stared at them.
“Inside my house?”
“Yes.”
That realization hurt.
She had lived here for twelve years.
Yet she suddenly did not know who she could trust.
Daniel placed the recorder on the desk.
“Your father suspected the same thing.”
Emily looked at it.
“Play the rest.”
Daniel hesitated.
Then pressed the button.
Arthur Harrington’s voice returned.
“I allowed Preston into my company because Emily loved him.”
“I convinced myself ambition was not the same thing as greed.”
“I was wrong.”
Emily closed her eyes.
Her father had disliked Preston in the beginning.
She remembered their arguments.
Arthur had called Preston charming but impatient.
Emily had accused her father of being controlling.
Eventually, Arthur stopped objecting.
Emily had believed Preston had earned his respect.
Apparently, he had only earned access.
The recording continued.
“Meridian was never supposed to become public.”
“It began twenty-one years ago.”
Emily opened her eyes.
Twenty-one years?
“After Emily’s mother died, I created a contingency trust.”
Emily frowned.
She had been seventeen when her mother died.
Arthur continued.
“The trust contains assets I never placed inside Harrington Global.”
“Land.”
“Patents.”
“Mining rights.”
“Private technology holdings.”
“And controlling interests in four companies.”
Emily looked at Daniel.
“How much?”
Daniel answered quietly.
“Current estimated value?”
“Yes.”
“Approximately 1.8 billion dollars.”
Emily stared at him.
She almost laughed because the number was too large to understand.
“My father had another billion-dollar trust?”
“He created it to protect you.”
“From what?”
Daniel pointed toward the recorder.
Arthur answered for him.
“From men who would marry my daughter for access to Harrington Global.”
Emily looked away.
The irony was unbearable.
Arthur continued.
“But six weeks ago, I discovered someone had attempted to change Meridian’s beneficiary.”
Emily stopped breathing.
Daniel watched her carefully.
“The requested beneficiary was Preston Vale.”
Emily looked at him.
“How?”
“Forged documents.”
Again.
Arthur’s voice continued.
“The signature looked like Emily’s.”
“It wasn’t.”
“I know my daughter’s handwriting.”
Emily whispered,
“Oh my God.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“The attempted transfer would only become valid under one condition.”
“What condition?”
“If you died.”
Emily stared at him.
The words did not make sense at first.
Then they did.
Her hand moved over her belly.
Daniel spoke carefully.
“Meridian’s original structure transfers everything to your children if you die.”
“But someone inserted a spousal survivorship clause.”
Emily’s throat tightened.
“Giving Preston control.”
“Yes.”
For the first time that evening, Emily felt real fear.
Not humiliation.
Not anger.
Fear.
“Did my father think Preston wanted to kill me?”
Daniel did not answer immediately.
“That was what he was trying to determine.”
Emily stood.
She needed air.
Michael stepped closer.
“Mrs. Harrington.”
“I’m fine.”
She wasn’t.
She walked toward the fireplace.
Above it hung a photograph of her parents.
Arthur and Catherine Harrington.
Smiling.
Alive.
Safe.
Emily stared at her mother’s face.
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
Daniel’s voice softened.
“He tried.”
“When?”
“Several times.”
Emily turned.
“I never received anything.”
Daniel looked grim.
“We know.”
He opened another envelope.
“These were copies of letters your father sent you.”
Emily scanned them.
She had never seen them.
“He mailed them here?”
“Yes.”
Her stomach turned.
Preston controlled the household mail.
Preston had insisted on it after Arthur became ill.
“He intercepted them.”
“That is our assumption.”
Emily looked toward the door.
Suddenly every small thing from the past year looked different.
Preston insisting she stop visiting the office because pregnancy was exhausting.
Preston changing her father’s nurses.
Preston telling her Arthur was too tired for visitors.
Preston repeatedly telling her not to stress herself.
It had sounded caring.
Now it sounded like isolation.
Emily looked at Daniel.
“What did my father discover about Dr. Bell?”
Daniel pulled out a medical report.
“Your father believed Dr. Bell was altering his medication.”
Emily went cold.
“Altering it how?”
“Your father began experiencing confusion.”
“Memory loss.”
“Extreme fatigue.”
“Symptoms that appeared consistent with his illness.”
“But?”
“But his independent blood test found compounds that were not prescribed.”
Emily gripped the desk.
“What compounds?”
“Sedatives.”
“High doses.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“My father wasn’t confused because he was dying.”
“Not entirely.”
Emily’s voice cracked.
“Someone was drugging him.”
Daniel said nothing.
He did not need to.
Emily remembered Preston.
Your father barely knew what day it was.
The sentence suddenly sounded rehearsed.
“How long?”
“At least four months.”
Emily felt tears run down her face.
She wiped them away immediately.
“Did Preston know?”
Michael answered.
“We have evidence that Preston communicated with Dr. Bell.”
“What evidence?”
“Encrypted messages.”
“Payments.”
“Meeting records.”
“And the photograph you saw downstairs.”
Emily looked at him.
“Is that enough?”
“To prove financial conspiracy?”
“Possibly.”
“To prove involvement in your father’s medication?”
“Not yet.”
A knock sounded at the door.
All three froze.
“Emily?”
Preston.
Daniel reached for his phone.
Emily shook her head.
She walked toward the door but did not open it.
“What do you want?”
“We need to talk.”
“No.”
“Emily, Vanessa has left.”
“I don’t care.”
“Dr. Bell is dead.”
“I know.”
Silence.
Then Preston spoke again.
“You’re in danger.”
Emily almost laughed.
“From whom?”
Another pause.
“Your father made enemies.”
Emily looked at Daniel.
Daniel shook his head.
Preston continued.
“You don’t understand what he was involved in.”
Emily leaned closer to the door.
“Then explain it.”
“Open the door.”
“No.”
His voice changed.
The softness disappeared.
“Emily.”
“Open the damn door.”
Michael quietly moved toward the side of the room.
Emily remained still.
“No.”
The doorknob turned.
Once.
Twice.
Then stopped.
Preston spoke through the wood.
“You think those lawyers are protecting you?”
Emily said nothing.
“They’re protecting the money.”
Still she said nothing.
Then Preston delivered the sentence that made Daniel rise from his chair.
“Ask Daniel why your father changed Meridian three days before he died.”
Emily turned.
Daniel’s face had gone pale.
Preston laughed softly from the hallway.
“He didn’t tell you that part, did he?”
Emily stared at Daniel.
“What is he talking about?”
Daniel did not answer.
Preston’s footsteps moved away.
Emily waited until they disappeared.
Then she looked at the man her father had trusted for twenty-seven years.
“What did my father change?”
Daniel slowly sat down.
“Emily.”
“What did he change?”
Daniel looked toward the recorder.
“Your father added a second beneficiary.”
Emily stared at him.
“Who?”
Daniel opened the final sealed envelope.
He placed a birth certificate on the desk.
Emily looked down.
The name printed on it meant nothing to her.
Until she saw the father’s name.
Arthur James Harrington.
Emily’s knees nearly gave out.
She looked at Daniel.
“My father had another child?”
Daniel nodded.
“A son.”
Emily stared at the date.
The man was thirty-four years old.
“Where is he?”
Michael answered.
“We don’t know.”
Emily looked between them.
“Then why would Preston know about him?”
May you like
Daniel’s expression became grim.
“Because we believe Preston found him first.”
