Chapter 12 - THE FILE WITH NATHAN’S NAME
Margaret stared at Richard.
“What did you do?”
Richard laughed quietly.
“Me?”
He shook his head.
“I didn’t do anything.”
His eyes moved toward Emma.
“She did.”
Margaret looked at Emma.
Emma held the flash drive between two fingers.
“Want it?”
Margaret’s gun remained steady.
“Put it on the table.”
Emma did.
Margaret did not touch it.
“Hayes.”
He looked at her.
“Plug it in.”
Hayes remained still.
Margaret pointed her gun at Charles.
“Now.”
Hayes walked toward an old laptop on the archive desk.
He inserted the drive.
The screen illuminated.
Folders appeared.
Margaret stepped closer.
Emma watched her.
The woman who had controlled the Whitmore family for decades suddenly looked hungry.
Not for money.
For certainty.
She needed to know what Emma knew.
Margaret pointed.
“Open the Bennett folder.”
Hayes clicked.
Documents appeared.
Bank transfers.
Property deeds.
Emails.
Scanned contracts.
Margaret’s face tightened.
“Where did you get these?”
Emma said nothing.
Margaret looked at her.
“Where?”
“My mother.”
Rebecca’s voice came from the doorway.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
Rebecca stood there.
Nathan was beside her.
Margaret raised her gun.
Richard immediately aimed at Margaret.
Nathan looked at his father.
“Dad.”
Charles’s face collapsed with relief.
“Nathan.”
Margaret shouted.
“Stay where you are!”
Nathan stopped.
Rebecca held her weapon low.
Margaret stared at her.
“You were supposed to be dead.”
Rebecca’s expression remained cold.
“So were a lot of people in this family.”
Richard almost smiled.
Margaret looked between them.
“You think this changes anything?”
Emma answered.
“Yes.”
Margaret turned.
Emma pointed toward the laptop.
“Open the folder marked Nathan Whitmore.”
Nathan stared at her.
Margaret’s face changed.
“No.”
Emma saw it.
“You don’t want him to see.”
Nathan stepped forward.
“What’s in it?”
Margaret looked at him.
“Nothing.”
Emma laughed.
“Then open it.”
Margaret aimed at her.
Emma did not move.
“Open it.”
Hayes clicked the folder.
Password required.
Nathan looked at Emma.
“You know it?”
“No.”
Rebecca spoke.
“I might.”
Everyone looked at her.
Rebecca approached the laptop.
She typed one word.
SAMUEL.
Incorrect.
She tried BENNETT.
Incorrect.
Margaret smiled.
“You don’t know everything.”
Rebecca stared at the screen.
Nathan stepped closer.
“What would Mom use?”
Evelyn’s voice came from the corridor.
“His birthday.”
Everyone turned.
Evelyn stood near the doorway.
Nathan frowned.
“I told you to stay locked inside.”
“I heard gunshots.”
“You should have stayed.”
Evelyn looked at Margaret.
“No.”
For the first time in her life, Evelyn looked at her mother without fear.
“I’m done hiding because she tells me to.”
Margaret’s face hardened.
“You ungrateful little fool.”
Evelyn flinched.
Then steadied herself.
She walked toward the computer.
“Try Nathan’s birthday.”
Hayes entered the numbers.
Incorrect.
Evelyn frowned.
“Mine.”
Incorrect.
Margaret smiled.
Evelyn looked at her mother.
Then suddenly understood.
“Dad’s.”
Charles stared.
Hayes typed Charles’s birthday.
The folder opened.
Nathan’s face changed.
Margaret’s smile disappeared.
Inside were hundreds of files.
Hayes clicked the first.
A bank account.
Owner:
Nathan Alexander Whitmore.
Balance:
$3.8 million.
Nathan stared.
“I’ve never seen that account.”
Another file.
Another account.
$1.2 million.
Another.
$640,000.
Another.
Transactions linked to shell corporations.
Payments to consultants.
Transfers from Whitmore charities.
Hayes looked at Nathan.
Nathan shook his head.
“None of those are mine.”
Margaret spoke.
“He’s lying.”
Nathan looked at his mother.
“What?”
Margaret shrugged.
“He handled the accounts.”
Emma stared at her.
There it was.
The plan.
Even now.
Margaret was activating it.
Nathan laughed in disbelief.
“You’re actually doing it.”
Margaret looked confused.
“You’re framing me.”
“Nathan.”
“You’re doing exactly what Evelyn said.”
Margaret pointed toward the screen.
“Your name is on every account.”
Nathan stepped closer.
“Because you put it there.”
“Can you prove that?”
Nathan stopped.
Margaret smiled.
Emma answered.
“Yes.”
Margaret turned.
Emma looked at Hayes.
“Scroll down.”
He did.
A folder appeared.
AUTHORIZATION.
Hayes opened it.
Scanned signatures.
Nathan’s signatures.
Hundreds.
Nathan stared.
“They look real.”
Emma nodded.
“They are.”
He looked at her.
“What?”
Margaret smiled again.
Emma continued.
“Your mother didn’t forge your signature.”
Nathan frowned.
“Then how—”
“She copied it.”
Emma looked at Margaret.
“From blank documents you signed.”
Nathan went pale.
Margaret’s face hardened.
Emma continued.
“Charity approvals.”
“Board authorizations.”
“Vendor forms.”
“Your mother had you sign incomplete packets for years.”
Nathan remembered.
His face changed.
“She always said legal would fill in the details.”
Emma nodded.
Margaret said nothing.
Nathan stared at her.
“You had me signing blank pages.”
Margaret rolled her eyes.
“Everyone signs incomplete corporate documents.”
Hayes looked at her.
“No.”
Margaret glared.
Emma continued.
“Metadata.”
Margaret turned.
“What?”
“The files have metadata.”
Emma pointed toward the screen.
“The documents were created before Nathan supposedly authorized them.”
Hayes looked closer.
Emma continued.
“Some were created while Nathan was overseas.”
“Some were modified from Margaret’s office computer.”
Nathan stared at the screen.
Margaret’s composure slipped.
Emma continued.
“And some contain the digital certificate of Whitmore Holdings’ chief legal officer.”
Charles looked up.
“Martin Cole.”
Emma nodded.
Richard laughed.
“Martin.”
Margaret snapped.
“Shut up.”
Richard smiled.
“Is he still alive?”
Margaret said nothing.
Hayes looked at her.
“Where is Martin Cole?”
Margaret stared.
Hayes repeated.
“Where?”
Richard answered.
“Switzerland.”
Everyone looked at him.
Richard continued.
“Margaret paid him to disappear eight years ago.”
Hayes’s eyes narrowed.
“You know where?”
Richard smiled.
“I know everything.”
Margaret raised the gun toward him.
“You know what I allowed you to know.”
Richard’s smile disappeared.
Nathan stepped toward his father.
“Untie him.”
Richard looked at Margaret.
She laughed.
“Go ahead.”
Richard lowered his gun.
He moved toward Charles.
Margaret watched.
Richard reached behind Charles.
Then stopped.
His expression changed.
“What?”
Charles whispered.
“Richard?”
Richard pulled something from beneath the chair.
A thin wire.
His face went pale.
“Don’t move.”
Nathan froze.
“What?”
Richard looked beneath the chair.
Then toward Margaret.
“You wired it.”
Margaret smiled.
Emma’s stomach dropped.
Charles looked down.
“What is it?”
Richard’s voice became quiet.
“Pressure trigger.”
Nathan stared.
Margaret continued smiling.
“If Charles stands up, the archive room becomes significantly less crowded.”
Evelyn covered her mouth.
“Mom.”
Margaret looked at her daughter.
“You should have stayed in your room.”
Nathan’s voice shook with rage.
“You put an explosive under Dad’s chair?”
Margaret shrugged.
“Insurance.”
Hayes looked around.
“How large?”
Richard examined the wire.
“Large enough.”
Emma stared at Margaret.
“You planned this.”
Margaret smiled.
“I plan everything.”
Emma’s expression hardened.
“No.”
Margaret frowned.
Emma looked at the laptop.
“You used to.”
A sound came from above them.
Faint.
Distant.
Sirens.
Margaret froze.
Everyone listened.
Another siren.
Then another.
Nathan looked at Emma.
She smiled.
“Rosa.”
Margaret’s face went white.
May you like
Emma continued.
“You forgot about the one person in your house you never bothered to notice.”
