Chapter 12: The Father on Trial
Chapter 12: The Father on Trial
Warren was arrested before he could escape.
Daniel survived the fall with a broken arm and several cracked ribs.
The injured detective was rushed to surgery.
Mary sat inside the old study with her father across from her.
Rain struck the windows.
Richard looked destroyed.
“He’s lying.”
Mary placed her mother’s journal on the desk.
“Then tell me everything.”
“I never paid him to hurt your mother.”
“Did you pay him at all?”
Richard hesitated.
“Yes.”
Mary felt sick.
“For what?”
“To delay her meeting with federal investigators. I wanted forty-eight hours to protect the company.”
“You bribed her driver.”
“I told him to take a longer route. Nothing more.”
“And he crashed the car.”
“He claimed he lost control.”
“You buried the investigation afterward.”
Richard lowered his head.
“Yes.”
Mary stood.
“You let me spend eleven years believing it was a random accident.”
“I was ashamed.”
“No. You were protecting your reputation.”
Richard began crying.
Mary had never seen her father cry.
It did not move her.
He had loved her mother.
But when forced to choose between truth and power, he chose power.
Exactly like Victoria.
The detective entered the room holding Warren’s phone.
“He has been communicating with Victoria Harrington.”
“Recently?” Mary asked.
“Until this afternoon.”
Warren had stolen the folder during the blackout, planted the device in Mary’s car and lured them to the house.
But he had also kept copies of Victoria’s financial records as insurance.
“Where are they?” Mary asked.
Warren answered from the hallway as officers led him away.
“Ask the bridegroom.”
Daniel was sitting in an ambulance outside.
Mary approached him.
His face was bruised, one arm secured against his chest.
“You have the records?”
Daniel looked at her.
“My mother gave me access to an offshore account years ago. I copied everything when I realized she was using me.”
“Why didn’t you expose her?”
“Because the records also implicate my father.”
Charles had not known about the forged wedding contract.
But he had known about the hidden losses and helped conceal them from investors.
“Where are the copies?”
Daniel stared at the rain.
“In the wedding gift I gave you.”
Mary remembered the small locked box delivered to her bridal suite that morning.
She had left it unopened in her dressing room.
“Why put them there?”
“I thought if everything went wrong, you would find them.”
“Everything did go wrong.”
“I know.”
Mary studied him.
Daniel had cheated.
Lied.
Plotted to control her shares.
But at some point, he had also prepared evidence against his own family.
“Why did you save me from Warren?”
He gave a tired laugh.
“You think I’m incapable of caring about you?”
“I think you only care when it costs you nothing.”
His eyes filled with pain.
“You’re wrong.”
Mary turned away.
Daniel called after her.
“The box has two locks.”
She stopped.
“One code is our wedding date.”
“And the second?”
May you like
His voice became quiet.
“The date I first betrayed you.”
