Chapter 8 - A BROTHER’S LIE
Daniel woke in the hospital with three cracked ribs and a fractured shoulder.
Emily sat beside his bed.
For several minutes, neither spoke.
Finally, Daniel said, “You stayed.”
“Only until you woke up.”
He looked at the sling around his arm.
“Was it Michael?”
“The SUV was stolen. The driver escaped.”
“But you think it was him.”
“I think we need proof.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Michael was always angry that our father left the company to me.”
“Your father left you a failing company.”
“He still believed it should have been Michael’s.”
Emily remembered Michael’s resentment.
At every family dinner, he joked that Daniel got the company while he got a charity.
Nobody questioned how Michael suddenly afforded luxury cars, private trips, and a lake house.
Patricia claimed he made smart investments.
Emily had been too busy saving the company to investigate.
Rebecca entered in a wheelchair, escorted by Bennett.
Her voice trembled, but her facts were clear.
Michael created Red Birch four years earlier.
He used Patricia’s identification because he knew nobody would suspect she understood financial fraud.
He forged Daniel’s approval and Emily’s audit authorizations.
The stolen funds financed risky private developments.
When those projects failed, Michael stole more money to hide the losses.
“Did Patricia know?” Daniel asked.
Rebecca hesitated.
“She knew money was entering the account.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“She knew enough to keep quiet.”
Daniel turned his face toward the window.
Emily saw the moment his loyalty to his mother finally cracked.
Bennett placed the stolen shareholder ledger on the bed.
“We found this in the SUV.”
Emily opened it.
Several pages had been removed.
The pages contained the original record of her majority ownership.
Without them, Michael could argue that Emily’s documents had been created later.
Daniel stared at the empty spaces.
“My mother knew where those pages were.”
“She may still have them,” Bennett said.
Daniel reached for his phone.
Emily stopped him.
“If you confront her, she’ll destroy them.”
“Then what do we do?”
“We let her think she’s winning.”
That afternoon, Emily held a press conference.
She announced that she was temporarily stepping away from Carter Development.
Reporters shouted questions.
Was she responsible for the collapse?
Had she illegally taken control of the company?
Was her marriage over?
Emily answered only one.
“I will cooperate with every investigation. The families living in our buildings deserve the truth.”
From his hospital room, Michael watched the announcement.
Then he called Patricia.
“She’s finished,” he said.
Patricia looked toward Daniel’s empty chair inside the mansion.
“What about your brother?”
“He’ll come back to us.”
“And the ledger pages?”
“They’re safe.”
Neither realized that Daniel had activated remote access to Patricia’s home security system.
Emily and Bennett listened through the study speaker.
May you like
Then Patricia asked a question that changed everything.
“What happens if Daniel remembers what you did to your father?”
