Chapter 7 - The Father in the Lobby
Emily had not spoken to her father, Robert Hale, in almost two years.
After her mother died, Robert spent the insurance money, sold the family home, and blamed Raymond for controlling the Saint Claire estate.
He resented the fact that Elizabeth left hospital shares to Emily instead of him.
He called her ungrateful when she refused to sell them.
Then he disappeared from her life.
Now he sat in the executive lobby wearing a gray coat and a smile that had once convinced Emily he could solve anything.
Raymond refused to let him near her.
Emily asked to see him through a video screen.
Robert looked into the camera.
“Emmy.”
“No one calls me that anymore.”
His smile faltered.
“I heard you were hurt.”
“You helped plan it.”
“That is not true.”
“Vanessa says otherwise.”
“Vanessa is frightened.”
“Frightened people often tell the truth too late.”
Robert leaned closer.
“Your mother never wanted Raymond controlling everything.”
“She built the trust with him.”
“She was manipulated.”
Emily felt anger rise.
“My mother named the hospital after our family because she believed patients deserved dignity.”
“You turned her name into a bargaining chip.”
Robert’s expression hardened.
“I raised you.”
“Your mother’s fortune should have remained with me.”
“There it is.”
The love disappeared from his face as quickly as it had appeared.
Robert had introduced Preston to Emily at a charity dinner five years earlier.
He encouraged the marriage.
He told Emily the Whitmores were respectable.
According to Vanessa, Robert had been receiving monthly payments from Preston’s family since the engagement.
In return, he provided private information about Emily’s childhood, fears, and medical history.
He told Preston how to make her doubt herself.
He told Lawrence which old therapy notes could be twisted into evidence of instability.
He told Vanessa how to provoke Emily without leaving obvious marks.
Robert denied everything until Raymond displayed the bank transfers.
Then he changed tactics.
“I was securing your future.”
“You were selling it.”
“I was protecting the hospital from Raymond.”
Emily almost laughed.
“You helped men drug your pregnant daughter.”
Robert looked away.
That movement contained more guilt than any confession.
Raymond ordered security to hold him for police questioning.
As officers approached, Robert whispered one final sentence.
“Ask your uncle why your mother really died.”
Raymond went still.
May you like
Emily saw it.
For the first time since he arrived, her uncle looked afraid.
