Chapter 8 - WHAT FEAR COSTS
Daniel looked angry when Emma entered the hospital room. That scared her more than if he'd looked sick.
“I'm fine,” he said.
“You're wearing a heart monitor.”
“It's a cautious hospital.”
Lily stood by the window, arms folded.
“He missed two follow-ups,” she said. “And he's been stretching his medication.”
Daniel looked away.
Emma pulled a chair close to the bed. “Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because every time I say I need something, you take another shift.”
“Dad.”
“You fell asleep standing at the sink last week.”
She wanted to argue. Instead, she pressed both hands over her mouth.
Forty-eight thousand dollars had existed beside his name while he cut pills and pretended he wasn't dizzy. Somewhere, someone had read the same name and seen an opportunity.
Vincent arrived with coffee and stopped outside until Lily invited him in.
Daniel recognized him immediately.
“I fixed your south hotel's boilers in February when the pipes froze.”
“I remember the shutdown.”
“There wasn't a shutdown. That's why you don't remember me.”
Vincent accepted that without defending himself.
“You're right.”
He offered to cover the treatment. Daniel's jaw tightened.
Emma interrupted before pride could turn into another missed appointment.
“We can discuss repayment or compensation later. Tonight, he gets what the doctors say he needs.”
Daniel looked at her, then nodded once.
In the hallway, Vincent handed Emma a report from the auditors. Lakefront shared an administrative address with a consulting business controlled by Victoria's brother. More records were still needed, but the overlap was documented.
Then his phone rang.
Emma watched his expression change.
“When?” he asked. “Who authorized the deletion?”
He listened, thanked the caller, and ended the call.
“Someone attempted to clear a shared finance folder. The retention system kept a copy.”
“Victoria?”
“An administrative account. We don't know who was using it.”
Lily appeared in the doorway.
“Emma.”
Her phone displayed a message from Paul's work account, forwarded through the scheduling system.
Emma's employment had been terminated for falsifying a charitable-aid application.
May you like
Attached was an application bearing her signature.
She had never seen it before.
