Chapter 12 - ELIAS WARD’S TRUTH
Harrison stopped inside the doorway.
“Give me the baby.”
Elias Ward didn’t move.
“She’s safe.”
“Give me the baby.”
Richard looked up.
“Harrison.”
“Quiet.”
For once, Richard obeyed.
Elias stepped forward.
The baby slept peacefully against his chest.
Harrison studied him.
“You took her?”
“No.”
“Then why do you have her?”
“I took her back.”
“From whom?”
“Patricia Kensington.”
“Where is Patricia?”
“Alive.”
“Where?”
“Police will find her.”
Harrison’s voice hardened.
“You don’t get to control this conversation.”
Elias smiled sadly.
“That sounds like Margaret.”
Harrison froze.
“You knew my mother.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“She hired me.”
Harrison stared.
“You were what?”
“Twenty?”
“Twenty-two.”
Elias nodded.
“Junior accountant.”
“Your mother found discrepancies in Harrington accounts.”
“She needed someone who understood financial records.”
Harrison’s heart pounded.
“You helped her.”
“I tried.”
“And she died.”
Elias looked down.
“Yes.”
Richard suddenly spoke.
“He’s lying.”
Elias kicked Richard’s chair backward.
Not violently enough to injure him.
Enough to silence him.
Harrison’s eyes narrowed.
“Don’t touch him.”
Elias almost laughed.
“You’re protecting Richard?”
“I’m protecting the case against him.”
That answer pleased Elias.
“You really are Margaret’s son.”
Harrison stepped closer.
“My niece.”
Elias finally handed him the baby.
Harrison held her carefully.
Tiny.
Warm.
Alive.
His anger sharpened into focus.
“Now explain everything.”
Elias looked at Richard.
“Charles Harrington discovered Margaret was investigating him.”
“He threatened Thomas.”
“Then he sabotaged Margaret’s car.”
“Can you prove it?”
“Yes.”
Richard laughed.
“No, you can’t.”
Elias looked at him.
“Your father recorded everything.”
Richard stopped laughing.
Elias walked toward an old wooden desk.
He opened a hidden compartment.
Inside were cassette tapes.
Dozens.
Charles Harrington had recorded meetings.
Deals.
Threats.
Conversations.
Insurance.
A man who trusted nobody had created evidence against himself.
Harrison stared.
“Where did you find these?”
“Charles gave them to Samuel Price.”
“Why?”
“To protect himself if his partners turned on him.”
“And Samuel?”
“Kept copies.”
“Until he died.”
Elias nodded.
“Richard killed him.”
Richard shouted.
“That’s insane.”
Elias looked at Harrison.
“Samuel’s accident wasn’t an accident.”
Harrison’s expression hardened.
“How many people?”
Elias answered quietly.
“More than you want to know.”
Richard struggled against the restraints.
“You think he’s a hero?”
He pointed at Elias.
“Ask him why your mother was alone that night.”
Harrison looked at Elias.
Something changed in the accountant’s face.
Richard smiled.
“There it is.”
Harrison’s voice became quiet.
“What did you do?”
Elias stared at the floor.
“I was supposed to follow Margaret.”
“Why?”
“To make sure she reached the prosecutor.”
“And?”
“I didn’t.”
“Why?”
Elias closed his eyes.
“Charles paid me.”
Harrison stared.
Elias continued.
“I was twenty-two.”
“My mother was sick.”
“I owed money.”
“Charles offered me fifty thousand dollars to tell him where Margaret was going.”
Harrison felt rage rise through him.
“You sold her.”
“Yes.”
The word echoed through the mansion.
Richard smiled.
Harrison wanted to hit Elias.
He didn’t.
He held his niece instead.
“What happened?”
“I told Charles where she was going.”
“He sent someone.”
“I realized what I had done.”
“I tried to stop it.”
“I was too late.”
Harrison’s voice cracked.
“My mother died because of you.”
“Yes.”
“And you waited twenty-three years?”
“I spent twenty-three years collecting what I needed to destroy them.”
Harrison looked at Richard.
“You could have gone to police.”
“Charles owned police.”
“Federal authorities.”
“He owned people there too.”
“Judges.”
“Prosecutors.”
“Accountants.”
“Politicians.”
Elias stepped closer.
“That network didn’t disappear when Charles died.”
“Richard inherited it.”
Harrison looked at the tapes.
“Then why expose everything now?”
Elias looked at the baby.
“Because Richard crossed the final line.”
“What line?”
“He reopened the fertility files.”
Harrison’s eyes narrowed.
Elias continued.
“Charles created embryos without consent.”
“Why?”
“Legacy.”
Richard closed his eyes.
Elias looked disgusted.
“Charles believed his bloodline mattered more than law.”
“He used genetic material without permission.”
“Khloe’s embryo was one of several.”
Harrison stared.
“How many children?”
Elias answered.
“We don’t know.”
The room became silent.
Then Richard started laughing.
Harrison looked at him.
“What’s funny?”
Richard raised his head.
“You still don’t understand.”
“Understand what?”
Richard smiled.
“Elias didn’t bring you here to save the baby.”
Elias’s face changed.
Richard continued.
“He brought you here because the FBI is coming.”
Harrison looked toward the windows.
Sirens.
Distant.
Approaching.
Richard smiled wider.
“And when they enter this house, they’re going to find Harrison Cole standing beside a kidnapped CEO.”
“Tied to a chair.”
“Inside a mansion filled with stolen evidence.”
Harrison’s eyes moved toward Elias.
Elias whispered.
“I didn’t call them.”
Richard laughed.
May you like
“I did.”
Then the front windows exploded inward under the glare of tactical lights.
