Chapter 10 - HER FATHER’S SIGNATURE WAS ON THE WRONG DOCUMENT
Z
The board vote was three days away.
By Thursday morning, Emily had stopped sleeping properly.
Liam seemed to have stopped sleeping entirely.
His study lights remained on past 3:00 a.m.
Each morning he appeared downstairs shaved, dressed, and composed as if exhaustion were something lesser men experienced.
Emily knew better now.
She noticed the coffee.
Four cups before noon.
She noticed the headaches he pretended not to have.
She noticed him reading the same page twice.
“You need sleep,” she told him.
“I need six board votes.”
“You also need a functioning brain.”
“I’ve operated successfully with one for years.”
Emily looked up.
“Was that a joke?”
“No.”
“It was terrible.”
“I’m under stress.”
She smiled.
Then Maria entered carrying a courier envelope.
“For Mrs. Whitmore.”
Emily opened it.
Inside was a photocopy of a contract.
No return address.
No note.
She scanned the first page.
Carter Manufacturing.
Harbor Crest Holdings.
A supplemental debt agreement.
Dated eighteen months earlier.
Her father’s signature appeared at the bottom.
And another line.
OPTION TO TRANSFER WILMINGTON PROPERTY UPON DEFAULT TO WHITMORE DEVELOPMENT OR DESIGNATED AFFILIATE.
Emily frowned.
“This doesn’t make sense.”
Liam took the document.
His face changed instantly.
“Where did this come from?”
“Courier.”
“This clause wasn’t in the files Thomas gave me.”
“What does it mean?”
“It means your father agreed that if Carter defaulted, the Wilmington property could be transferred directly to a Whitmore affiliate.”
“Grant’s company?”
“Possibly.”
Emily pointed at Liam’s company name.
“But it says Whitmore Development.”
“Yes.”
She stared at him.
“Were you involved?”
“No.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because that signature isn’t mine.”
She looked.
Under Whitmore authorization appeared an elegant signature.
Grant Whitmore.
But the title beneath it read:
Acting Executive Officer.
Emily’s stomach turned.
“Was he authorized?”
“Not for this.”
“Then he used your company’s name.”
“Yes.”
“To trap my father.”
“Yes.”
She grabbed her keys.
“Where are you going?”
“To ask Dad why this document exists.”
“I’m coming.”
“You have a board meeting.”
“I can move it.”
“Liam.”
“Emily.”
They stared at each other.
She almost smiled.
“Fine.”
Thomas was at home.
He opened the door wearing sweatpants and an old Carter Manufacturing sweatshirt.
When Emily showed him the contract, he sat down without speaking.
“You knew,” she said.
Thomas rubbed his hands together.
“I signed so many things.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Liam remained by the doorway.
Emily appreciated that.
He was letting this be between father and daughter.
Thomas stared at the page.
“Grant told me Liam approved it.”
“Did you call Liam?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“He said the arrangement was confidential.”
Emily’s anger rose.
“You were borrowing twenty million dollars and transferring ninety-million-dollar property, and you didn’t verify?”
Thomas looked ashamed.
“I was desperate.”
“You keep saying that as if it turns bad decisions into accidents.”
He flinched.
Emily instantly regretted the cruelty.
But she did not take the words back.
Thomas stood.
“There’s something else.”
Liam’s posture changed.
Thomas went to his desk.
He opened a locked drawer.
Inside was an old laptop.
“I kept copies.”
“Of what?”
“Emails.”
He turned it on.
“Grant contacted me before Harbor Crest.”
Liam stepped forward.
“How long before?”
“Six months.”
Thomas opened a folder.
Hundreds of emails.
Emily scanned them.
Grant had offered assistance.
Introductions.
Financing.
Then pressure.
One message made Emily stop.
Your daughter could be useful. Liam notices her.
Emily’s blood ran cold.
“What does that mean?”
Thomas would not look at her.
“Dad.”
“I didn’t answer.”
“But you knew Grant knew about me.”
“Yes.”
Another email.
If Liam becomes personally invested in Carter, we gain leverage.
Emily felt sick.
Liam read over her shoulder.
His face became deadly still.
Grant had anticipated his attraction.
Used it.
Emily scrolled.
Then found the worst message.
Once the marriage happens, pressure Halston. The age difference alone will do the rest.
Dated six weeks before Liam proposed.
Emily whispered, “He knew.”
Liam’s voice was flat.
“He predicted.”
“He set this up.”
“Parts of it.”
Thomas began crying again.
“I should have told you.”
Emily turned on him.
“You think?”
“I was trying to save the company.”
“You used me.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Thomas stepped toward her.
“I never told you to make Liam want you.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Her eyes burned.
“You let me walk into a negotiation designed by men who knew things I didn’t.”
Thomas looked shattered.
Emily hated that she still loved him.
That was the terrible thing about family.
Love did not disappear when trust did.
Liam took the laptop.
“These emails can stop the board vote.”
Thomas nodded.
“There’s more.”
He opened another folder.
Bank transfers.
Payments from Harbor Crest to a consulting firm.
The consulting firm belonged to Catherine.
Liam went completely motionless.
Emily looked at him.
“Catherine was paid by Grant?”
Thomas nodded.
“For years.”
Noah’s mother.
Grant’s former lover.
Still receiving money.
The contract leak suddenly made sense.
So did Catherine’s sudden return.
Liam looked older.
Not weaker.
Wounded.
“She’s still working with him,” Emily whispered.
Liam said nothing.
His phone rang.
Margaret.
He answered.
“What?”
Emily watched the remaining color leave his face.
“When?”
A pause.
“We’re coming.”
He ended the call.
“What happened?”
Liam looked at Emily.
“Noah left school.”
Her heart dropped.
“What do you mean left?”
“A car picked him up.”
“Whose?”
May you like
Liam’s voice became almost frighteningly quiet.
“Catherine’s.”
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