Chapter 4 - THE MAN BEHIND CHAD
Security locked down the property in less than thirty seconds.
Christopher was better prepared for gunfire than most people were for rain.
I lay behind a stone fireplace with my mother beside me.
She was shaking.
Not crying.
Shaking.
That mattered.
People react differently when danger surprises them.
My mother looked like she had been waiting for this.
The shooting stopped.
Christopher’s head of security entered minutes later.
“No injuries.”
“Shooter?” Christopher asked.
“Long range. Vehicle left northbound.”
Christopher looked at Evelyn.
“You have five minutes to tell us who is trying to kill my daughter.”
My mother’s face tightened.
“I don’t know.”
Christopher stepped closer.
“Four minutes.”
“Dad.”
He stopped.
It was the first time I had called him that in years.
I looked at my mother.
“Tell me.”
Her eyes filled.
“Chad didn't come up with everything himself.”
“I know that.”
“He needed somebody inside your company.”
“Martin?”
She nodded.
“Martin Hale helped.”
“Why?”
“Money.”
“How much?”
“I don't know.”
Christopher leaned on his cane.
“Who else?”
Evelyn looked away.
My voice broke.
“Mom.”
“There was a man named Victor Sloane.”
Christopher went completely still.
That terrified me.
“You know him?”
He didn't answer.
Evelyn did.
“He used to work for Christopher.”
My father’s jaw tightened.
“Twenty-three years ago.”
“What did he do?”
“Financial acquisitions. Corporate restructuring. Political problems.”
I stared at him.
“Political problems?”
“He made problems disappear.”
My mother gave a bitter laugh.
“That's one way to say it.”
Christopher ignored her.
“Victor stole from me.”
“How much?”
“Nearly twelve million dollars.”
“And?”
“I fired him.”
Evelyn laughed again.
“You destroyed him.”
“He robbed me.”
“You made sure nobody in Arizona would hire him again.”
Christopher's face remained unreadable.
“So this is revenge?”
“No,” my mother said. “Not anymore.”
She looked at me.
“Victor approached Chad eighteen months ago.”
My stomach tightened.
“Why Chad?”
“Because he was angry.”
“At me?”
“At you. At Christopher. At the life he thought he deserved.”
I felt sick.
“What life?”
Evelyn lowered her voice.
“Chad found out who your father was.”
I stared at her.
“No.”
“He discovered it almost two years ago.”
“That’s impossible.”
“He found old records in my house.”
Christopher’s eyes narrowed.
“What records?”
“Letters.”
My heart sank.
The letters Christopher had written me when I was younger.
I thought my mother had destroyed them.
Apparently, she had kept them.
“Chad knew?”
“Yes.”
“And he never said anything?”
“He thought you were secretly wealthy.”
I laughed, stunned.
“He thought I had access to Dad’s money?”
“He thought you were keeping it from him.”
Of course.
Suddenly, conversations from the last two years made sense.
Chad asking why I worked so hard.
Chad joking about “hidden inheritances.”
Chad pushing me to invest more money into his consulting business.
I had thought he was insecure.
He had been hunting.
“What did Victor promise him?”
“Access to Christopher’s private investments.”
My father’s face hardened.
“And Chad gave him Genevieve.”
My mother closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
I stepped back.
“And you?”
She didn't answer.
“Mom, what did you get?”
Her lips trembled.
“I got the house.”
My stomach turned.
“You traded me for my own house?”
“No!”
“Then explain it!”
“I owed people money!”
“How much?”
She whispered it.
“Four hundred thousand.”
I stared at her.
“For what?”
“Gambling.”
Christopher looked almost disgusted.
My mother burst into tears.
“I thought they would make you resign. I thought Chad would divorce you. I thought the company would settle quietly.”
“You watched me get convicted.”
“I tried to stop them.”
“When?”
She couldn't answer.
I moved toward the door.
“Genevieve.”
I turned.
My mother looked smaller than I had ever seen her.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Victor doesn't care about two million dollars.”
Christopher’s expression sharpened.
“Then what does he want?”
“The Meridian Trust.”
My father gripped his cane.
“What did you say?”
Evelyn looked directly at me.
“He thinks Genevieve can access it.”
I stared at Christopher.
“What is the Meridian Trust?”
For the first time since I had called him, my father looked afraid.
May you like
And then he said:
“It’s the reason your mother kept you away from me your entire life.”
