Chapter 13 - WHAT OUR FAMILY BUILT
Dad did not speak for a long time.
I understood why.
It was easy to hate Malcolm Harrington.
Easy to hate Preston.
Easy to hate Robert for betrayal.
Harder to look at our own family.
Nathan had.
That may have been why he died.
Rachel began reviewing the released files.
“The Harrington transfers were only half the investigation.”
She opened another folder.
Arden Global overseas projects.
Labor violations.
Improper land acquisitions.
Bribery allegations.
Settlement agreements hidden behind confidentiality clauses.
My stomach sank.
“Dad.”
“I know some of it.”
“How much?”
His face tightened.
“Enough.”
I stepped away.
“Nathan found this?”
“Yes.”
“And you buried it?”
“No.”
“You just said—”
“I spent six years dismantling it quietly.”
Rachel looked up.
“Quietly.”
Dad nodded.
“I removed executives.”
“Without exposing what they did.”
“I compensated victims where we could.”
“Privately.”
“Yes.”
I stared at him.
Nathan’s words returned.
Don’t become Dad.
Everything had been handled privately.
Quietly.
Without scandal.
Without accountability.
Dad had fixed problems.
But he had also protected the Arden name.
“You still chose the company.”
He looked at me.
“For years, yes.”
That admission hurt more than an excuse.
“Why?”
“Because thirty-eight thousand people worked for Arden Global.”
His voice remained calm.
“I believed destroying the company would punish employees who had nothing to do with the crimes.”
Rachel crossed her arms.
“And protecting it also protected the executives responsible.”
“Yes.”
Dad looked ashamed.
“I know that now.”
I sat on an old wooden crate.
For the first time since Preston hit me, exhaustion reached me.
Dad crouched nearby.
“Emily.”
“What?”
“Tonight began because Malcolm wanted to destroy you.”
“I know.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“You don’t.”
He showed me a file from Nathan’s release.
A board succession plan.
My name appeared at the top.
Emily Caroline Arden.
Incoming Executive Chair.
Effective in thirty days.
I stared at Dad.
“You were stepping down?”
“Yes.”
“You never told me.”
“I planned to tomorrow.”
“Why?”
“Because the company needs someone who doesn’t think like I do.”
I almost laughed.
“You barely trusted me with the truth about Nathan.”
“I trusted you with the future.”
“That’s not better.”
“I know.”
Rachel interrupted.
“Emily.”
She had found another message.
A recorded conversation.
Malcolm and Robert.
Date: three weeks ago.
Malcolm’s voice.
If Emily takes control, Jonathan’s cleanup becomes permanent.
Robert.
Then stop the succession.
Malcolm.
How?
Robert.
Humiliate her publicly.
Make the board think she’s unstable.
Malcolm.
Preston can provoke her.
Robert.
And if she doesn’t react?
Silence.
Then Malcolm laughed.
Everyone in the cellar understood.
Preston’s assault was never an accident.
They wanted me to hit him back.
They wanted edited footage.
They wanted scandal.
They wanted the Arden board to reject me.
Dad looked toward the tunnel.
“Robert planned tonight.”
Rachel nodded.
“With Malcolm.”
I remembered Robert lying wounded in Nathan’s room.
Too convenient.
Too dramatic.
“He staged the attack on himself.”
Marcus agreed.
“Likely.”
“Why?”
“To look like another victim of North.”
Rachel closed the laptop.
“So where is he going?”
Nathan’s phone chimed.
I looked down.
One message.
WHERE NATHAN WAS GOING.
My heart pounded.
“Federal investigator?”
Dad shook his head.
“That investigator died two years ago.”
Another message appeared.
NO.
WHERE NATHAN WAS REALLY GOING.
Then coordinates appeared.
May you like
A location outside Denver.
The same mountain road where Nathan died.
