Chapter 7 - THE MAN WHO OPENED THE GATE
Police tackled Colin before he could pull out whatever was inside his jacket.
It wasn’t a gun.
It was a remote.
Detective Harris stared at it.
“For what?”
Marcus yelled, “Don’t press anything!”
Nobody did.
The bomb squad was called.
Within twenty minutes they found two incendiary devices hidden in the east wing.
One beneath Richard’s study.
The other near the family archive room.
Places containing records.
Not people.
Evidence.
Colin sat handcuffed on the lawn.
Richard looked at the man who had worked for him for fourteen years.
“Why?”
Colin’s expression went flat.
“You people never remember employees have families too.”
Richard frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Colin looked toward Marcus.
“My mother was Samuel Harlan’s secretary.”
Marcus stared.
Colin continued.
“She knew about Margaret.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“So you knew who my biological father was?”
“For years.”
“And you helped my mother?”
“I helped myself.”
Detective Harris took over.
Under questioning, Colin admitted he had found old letters after his mother died.
He approached Margaret.
She paid him to keep quiet.
At first.
Then he started demanding more.
Money.
Property.
A position inside the company.
Margaret gave him everything until he became too dangerous.
So she offered him another target.
Lily.
I lunged toward him.
Daniel caught me.
“What did you do to my daughter?”
Colin looked at me without shame.
“The chain was Margaret’s idea.”
Lily’s fingers tightened around Daniel’s hand.
“But I arranged the party photos.”
My stomach turned.
“What photos?”
He smiled.
“Check the family group chat.”
Daniel pulled out his phone.
There were dozens of images.
Lily outside.
Crying.
Guests watching.
One caption read:
SOME BRANCHES DON’T BELONG ON THE FAMILY TREE.
Margaret had created a digital audience for Lily’s humiliation.
I couldn’t speak.
Daniel could.
“I hope you spend the rest of your life regretting today.”
Colin laughed.
“You think this is about a kid?”
“She’s my daughter.”
“No.”
He leaned forward.
“She’s leverage.”
Richard stared at him.
“For what?”
“The trust.”
Colin claimed Margaret planned to use the fake DNA report to remove Lily.
Then, once Richard’s trust was restructured, she would shift Daniel’s voting shares into a separate vehicle she controlled.
But Colin had his own plan.
He wanted the archive destroyed because it contained proof of payments Margaret had made to him.
Marcus had discovered pieces of it.
That was why Colin lured Marcus back.
He hoped police would blame him for the fire.
Marcus stared at Margaret’s empty driveway.
“She used all of us.”
I looked at Detective Harris.
“Where is Margaret now?”
He checked with another officer.
Then his face tightened.
“She never made it to her attorney’s office.”
Richard went pale.
Daniel said, “Find her.”
Before anyone could move, Lily tugged my sleeve.
“Mommy?”
I crouched.
“What, sweetheart?”
She pointed toward Colin.
“He came to my school.”
Every adult froze.
“What?”
“Last week.”
Colin’s face changed.
Lily continued.
“He told my teacher Grandma sent him.”
I looked at Colin.
“What did you take from her?”
He didn’t answer.
Then I remembered the fake DNA test.
Lily’s sample.
The first one had been collected without my consent.
I stepped closer.
“You took her DNA.”
Colin smiled.
“No.”
A voice behind us answered.
“I did.”
We turned.
Margaret stood at the open estate gate.
Her hair was disheveled.
Her pearls were gone.
And blood stained one sleeve.
May you like
She looked directly at Richard.
“Marcus wasn’t the only child Samuel left behind.”
