Chapter 10 - WHAT WAS REALLY STOLEN.
The officers raised their weapons.
Natalie lifted the gasoline container over the scattered papers.
“One spark,” she warned.
“This entire warehouse disappears.”
I kept my voice calm.
“You do not want to burn the records.”
“They are the only proof of what my father did.”
Natalie’s eyes were red from exhaustion.
“Your father deserves prison.”
“Perhaps he does.”
“He deserves to lose his home.”
“Perhaps he does.”
My answer surprised her.
She had expected me to defend him.
Instead, I stepped closer.
“But hospital patients did not steal from your family.”
“My employees did not steal from your family.”
“The five hundred people whose paychecks depend on Apex did nothing to you.”
Natalie’s jaw tightened.
“You used our client list.”
“I used names my father gave me.”
“I did not know they were stolen.”
“That does not change what happened.”
“No,” I said.
“It does not.”
I looked at the ledgers.
“If Apex benefited from your father’s work, then his estate deserves a fair investigation.”
“I will hire an independent firm.”
“I will repay anything legally owed.”
Natalie laughed.
“You expect me to trust you?”
“No.”
“I expect you to trust evidence.”
For one moment, her grip on the gasoline weakened.
Then my father entered the warehouse.
He had slipped past the police line.
“Natalie,” he said.
Her face transformed.
Years of anger surfaced at once.
“You.”
My father stopped several feet away.
“I stole the money.”
“I ruined your father.”
“Emily knew nothing.”
Natalie began to cry.
“He died believing everyone thought he was a thief.”
My father reached into his jacket and removed a signed statement.
“This is a full confession.”
“I sent copies to the police and my attorney.”
“I am prepared to accept the consequences.”
Natalie stared at him.
The gasoline container slipped from her hand.
An officer caught it before it struck the floor.
Police moved forward and restrained her.
As they led her away, Natalie looked back at me.
“You still built your empire on a lie.”
Her accusation stayed with me.
Because part of it was true.
I had not committed my father’s crime.
But my company’s first opportunity had grown from something stolen.
I knew exactly what I had to do next.
It might cost me millions.
May you like
It might cost me Apex.
But I could no longer protect my success with another family secret.
