My fingers went numb.
Carter saw my expression.
“Audrey?”
Jonathan continued.
“And there is one more thing you need to know.”
“What?”
“The thirty million dollars isn’t the real debt.”
I closed my eyes.
“Then what is?”
Jonathan’s answer chilled me.
“Your father’s original contract.”
The line went silent.
And for the first time that morning, I realized the thirty million dollars might have been only the beginning.
PART 4
“The original contract?”
I could barely get the words out.
Jonathan Blackwell’s voice remained calm on the other end of the phone.
“Yes.”
“What does it say?”
“It says your father never surrendered ownership of Sterling Construction.”
I stared through the glass doors at the driveway.
Carter was standing beside my suitcase, watching me with growing concern.
“Then who owns it?”
“Technically?”
Jonathan paused.
“You do.”
My breath caught.
I almost laughed because the answer sounded absurd.
“I don’t understand.”
“You weren’t supposed to. Your father made sure you wouldn’t have to understand until you were old enough to protect yourself.”
“Protect myself from what?”
“From Richard.”
I closed my eyes.
Jonathan continued.
“Twenty-two years ago, Daniel discovered that Richard had been stealing money from the company. Your father confronted him. Richard threatened to expose Daniel for financial crimes he hadn’t committed.”
“He framed my father?”
“Yes.”
“And the contract?”
“Your father had already transferred the controlling interest into a trust established in your name.”
I opened my eyes.
“Mine?”
“You were five years old.”
I looked at Carter.
He had heard enough from my expression to know something was terribly wrong.
“Your father knew Richard would eventually try to take everything. So he created a trust that would become fully accessible to you when you turned twenty-five.”
My knees almost weakened.
“I turned twenty-five last year.”
“Exactly.”
“And Richard knew?”
“He knew there was a trust. He didn’t know where the documents were.”
“Until now.”
“Until now.”
I looked down at the folder in my hands.
“So the thirty million dollars…”
“Was money Richard borrowed against assets he didn’t legally own.”
I swallowed.
“And Blackwell Capital?”
“My father bought the debt because he knew the truth.”
“Why didn’t he come to me?”
“He tried.”
I froze.
“What?”
“Your father left instructions for my father to contact you when you were twenty-five.”
“Then why didn’t he?”
“Because my father died six months before you turned twenty-five.”
I said nothing.
Jonathan continued.
“After his death, I found the files. I’ve spent the last year trying to locate you.”
“And then you found me.”
“No.”
His voice became strangely quiet.
“Richard found you first.”
A cold sensation moved through me.
“Why?”
“Because Carter was the easiest way to get close to you.”
I looked at my husband.
Suddenly, every memory became suspicious.
Our first meeting.
The restaurant.
The flowers.
The coincidence of seeing him again.
The way he had pursued me.
The speed of the engagement.
The wedding.
My stomach twisted.
“Are you saying Carter married me because of the trust?”
“I don’t know.”
That answer frightened me more than certainty.
“Then why did you call?”
“Because I found something else.”
“What?”
“A recording.”
My heart stopped.
“Of what?”
“Richard and your father.”
“When?”
“The night your father disappeared.”
I gripped the phone tighter.
“My father didn’t disappear. He died years later.”
“That is what you were told.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“What are you saying?”
“I am saying Daniel survived the night Richard attacked him.”
My eyes filled with tears.
“Where is he?”
Jonathan was silent.
Then he said,
“Your father is alive.”
The phone nearly slipped from my hand.
“What?”
“Not for much longer, perhaps. He’s sick. But he’s alive.”
I couldn’t speak.
Carter stepped toward me.
“Audrey?”
I looked at him.
“Where?”
Jonathan gave me an address.
A small town two hours away.
“Go alone,” he said.
“Why?”
“Because if Richard discovers your father is alive before you’re ready, he’ll destroy everything.”
I ended the call.
Carter immediately approached.
“What happened?”
I stared at him.
“My father is alive.”
Carter went completely still.
“What?”
“He’s alive.”
“I thought…”
“So did I.”
He reached for my hand.
I pulled away.
His face fell.
“I’m sorry.”
“I don’t know if I can trust you.”
“I understand.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“Then don’t follow me.”
He nodded.
“I won’t.”
I picked up my suitcase.
But before I reached the door, Carter spoke.
“Audrey.”
I stopped.
“If I knew any of this before I met you…”
He paused.
“I would still have fallen in love with you.”
I didn’t turn around.
Because some part of me still wanted to believe him.
And that was exactly what frightened me.
Two hours later, I was standing outside a small white house surrounded by maple trees.
My hands were shaking.
I knocked.
Nothing.
I knocked again.
The door opened slowly.
An elderly man stood there.
His hair was gray.
His face was thinner than I remembered.
But his eyes…
I knew those eyes.
I had seen them every night in my dreams since childhood.
“Daddy?”
The man gripped the doorframe.
For a moment, neither of us moved.
Then he whispered,
“Audrey.”
My legs gave out.
He caught me.
I buried my face against his chest and sobbed.
Not the quiet tears I had refused to shed that morning.
Not the tears I had swallowed for twenty-two years.
These were the tears of a little girl who had spent her entire life believing her father had abandoned her.
“You’re alive.”
“I am.”
“Why?”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I know.”
“You let me grow up thinking I wasn’t enough for you to stay.”
He closed his eyes.
“That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
I pulled away.
“Richard told me you disappeared because you were ashamed.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“Richard lied.”
He invited me inside.
On the wall were photographs.
Photographs of me.
Every birthday.
Every graduation.
Every Christmas.
My father had watched me grow from a distance.
“You were there?”
“Always.”
“Why didn’t you come to me?”
“Because Richard had people watching you.”
I sat down.
He showed me the original trust agreement.
My name was on it.
So was his.
And beneath his signature was Richard’s.
I stared at it.
“Why did Richard sign this?”
“Because he didn’t know what it was.”
I looked up.
“What?”
“He thought it was a temporary transfer agreement. He believed he would eventually control everything.”
My father smiled sadly.
“He never realized the trust was irrevocable.”
I looked at the final page.
There was one more signature.
Mine.
But I had been five.
“How?”
“Your hand was guided.”
I stared at my tiny signature.
“Audrey, everything Richard has built for the last twenty-two years has been built on property he never truly owned.”
I thought about the mansion.
The cars.
The company.
The warehouses.
The arrogance.
The family name.
“All of it?”
“All of it.”
I began to cry again.
My father placed a hand over mine.
“But I don’t want you to destroy him.”
I looked at him.
“Why not?”
“Because revenge will turn you into someone you don’t recognize.”
“Then what should I do?”
“Take back what belongs to you.”
I nodded.
“And let the truth destroy him.”
The next morning, I returned to Greenwich.
Carter was waiting outside the house.
He looked like he hadn’t slept.
“Where were you?”
“I met my father.”
His eyes widened.
“He really is alive?”
“Yes.”
He closed his eyes in relief.
“I’ve spent the entire night trying to understand what happened.”
“You should have started twenty-two years ago.”
He nodded.
“You’re right.”
I walked past him.
“Where is Richard?”
“Inside.”
“Good.”
I opened the front door.
Everyone was in the living room.
Richard.
