Chapter 16 - MY FATHER’S TRUTHDad sat across from me.
Lily was with Elizabeth in another room.
I had known my half-sister for less than a day.
Yet somehow I trusted her with my daughter more than I trusted the family I had spent thirteen years trying to please.
Dad folded his hands.
“Your mother almost left me when you were three.”
I waited.
“Why?”
“Because I lied to her.”
“About what?”
“Robert.”
I frowned.
“You knew?”
“Not everything.”
“When did you find out?”
“After you were born.”
“How?”
“Your grandmother told me.”
“About Elizabeth?”
“No.”
Dad looked ashamed.
“She told me Sarah had once been engaged to Robert.”
I stared.
“And you never told Mom you knew.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because your grandmother begged me not to.”
“That makes no sense.”
“She believed Sarah had buried that part of her life.”
“So you helped bury it.”
“Yes.”
I shook my head.
“Why would that make Mom leave you?”
“Because I confronted Robert.”
“When?”
“At a business dinner.”
“What did you say?”
“I told him to stay away from you and Sarah.”
“Was he bothering us?”
“No.”
I stared at Dad.
“So you created the conflict.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Jealousy.”
His answer surprised me.
Dad rarely admitted ugly emotions.
“I was younger.”
“That isn’t an excuse.”
“No.”
“What happened?”
“Robert told Sarah.”
“And she discovered you knew.”
“Yes.”
“She was furious.”
“Yes.”
“Because you didn’t trust her.”
“Yes.”
I sat back.
“That’s it?”
Dad looked at me.
“No.”
Of course not.
“What else?”
“I investigated Robert.”
My stomach tightened.
“What did you find?”
“Financial misconduct.”
“At Collins Manufacturing?”
“Yes.”
“What did you do?”
“I threatened to expose it unless he stayed away.”
I closed my eyes.
“Dad.”
“I know.”
“You blackmailed him.”
“Yes.”
The word sat between us.
My father had always been the good man in my memory.
Strong.
Controlled.
Principled.
Now a crack appeared.
Not enough to make him Ryan.
But enough to make him human.
“What happened?”
“Sarah found out.”
“And?”
“She left for eleven days.”
“Where?”
“Her mother’s.”
“I don’t remember.”
“You were three.”
“Why did she come back?”
“Because I apologized.”
“That simple?”
“No.”
Dad smiled sadly.
“Nothing important is ever that simple.”
He continued.
“I gave Robert the evidence.”
“What?”
“I surrendered every copy.”
“Why?”
“Because Sarah told me if I wanted to control people with fear, I could do it alone.”
I almost smiled.
That sounded like Mom.
“She came back after that?”
“Yes.”
“And you never blackmailed anyone again?”
“No.”
I studied him.
“Ryan found out.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Probably Thomas.”
The corrupt CFO.
“Did Thomas know?”
“He had access to old company archives.”
“So Ryan is using a mistake you made thirty-three years ago to make me distrust you now.”
“Yes.”
I looked at Dad.
“Do you think I should?”
He did not answer immediately.
“You should know I am capable of being wrong.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“I do not think you should trust me blindly.”
That answer mattered.
Ryan always demanded trust as proof of love.
Dad was telling me to verify him.
I nodded.
“Okay.”
My phone rang.
Federal investigators.
Ryan had been spotted near Fort Worth.
A traffic camera captured Pike’s SUV.
Two occupants.
Ryan and Pike.
They were heading toward the forty-two-acre parcel.
The lithium land.
Dad stood.
“Why would he go there?”
I thought about the sale.
“The closing.”
Claire had said Northline was proceeding with the eleven-million-dollar version.
Maybe Ryan had another path.
We called Claire.
She arrived with Mark.
Together we reviewed everything again.
Then Claire noticed a clause in the land agreement.
“Here.”
“What?”
“If title becomes disputed before closing, Northline can exercise an option directly with the mineral lessee.”
Dad frowned.
“Who is the mineral lessee?”
Claire searched.
“Red Meridian Resources.”
Ryan’s royalty company.
Mark swore.
Dad understood.
“He doesn’t need the land sale.”
Claire nodded.
“He needs the mineral lease activated.”
“How?”
“A site certification.”
“By whom?”
“Current manager of Lily’s LLC.”
My stomach tightened.
“Ryan.”
Claire shook her head.
“Not anymore.”
“Then who?”
She scrolled.
A management succession form appeared.
Signed two weeks earlier.
If Ryan became unavailable, authority transferred to Diane.
If Diane became unavailable, authority transferred to a third person.
The name made everyone freeze.
Warren Pike.
Ryan’s attorney.
The man currently traveling with him.
“They can activate the lease without Diane.”
Claire nodded.
Dad looked at the clock.
“When?”
“Any time.”
“Where?”
“The certification requires physical acknowledgment at the property.”
That was why they were going to Fort Worth.
Dad called investigators.
They were already moving.
I wanted to go.
Everyone said no.
I went anyway.
Not onto the property.
But close enough to know what was happening.
Law enforcement established a perimeter.
Pike’s SUV was found abandoned near the access road.
A second vehicle had entered the land.
A site camera showed Ryan.
He was carrying a document case.
Pike was with him.
Then a third person appeared.
Thomas Reed.
Dad’s former CFO.
The three men stood near a temporary drilling pad.
Thomas had been the missing piece.
Ryan brought the plan.
Pike brought legal paperwork.
Thomas brought stolen trust data.
Together they had built a machine.
Investigators moved in.
But before they reached them, another vehicle arrived.
A Northline representative.
Claire stared through binoculars.
“They’re actually going to sign.”
Dad looked disgusted.
“Even now?”
“Money makes people optimistic about legal risk.”
The representative placed papers on the hood of a truck.
Ryan signed.
Pike signed.
Thomas signed.
Then law enforcement vehicles appeared from both directions.
Ryan looked up.
For once, he had nowhere to run.
Officers ordered everyone to the ground.
Pike obeyed immediately.
Thomas ran.
He made it fifty yards.
Ryan did something stranger.
He stood perfectly still.
Then he laughed.
Even from a distance, I could see it.
Dad lowered the binoculars.
“What is wrong with him?”
My phone rang.
Ryan.
Somehow he was calling while officers approached.
I answered.
“What?”
His breathing was quick.
“You think this stops it?”
“Yes.”
“It doesn’t.”
“Ryan, surrender.”
“The lease is executed.”
“It will be challenged.”
“It can’t be undone.”
“Everything can be undone.”
He laughed.
“You still don’t understand.”
“What?”
“The land isn’t valuable because of lithium.”
I frowned.
“Then why?”
Ryan lowered his voice.
“Ask Northline what is buried under Pad Four.”
My skin prickled.
“What?”
He disconnected.
Seconds later officers took him down.
Handcuffs went on.
Thomas was caught.
Pike was detained.
It should have felt like victory.
Instead, I stared toward the drilling field.
Pad Four.
I looked at Claire.
“What is Pad Four?”
She frowned.
“An old test site.”
“Test for what?”
“Originally groundwater.”
Dad looked at Mark.
Mark had gone pale.
“What?”
I asked.
He did not answer.
“Mark.”
He swallowed.
“There was a dumping problem twenty years ago.”
Dad’s face tightened.
“What kind of dumping?”
“Chemical waste.”
My stomach dropped.
Mark looked toward Pad Four.
“Dad told everyone it was remediated.”
Claire whispered.
“What if it wasn’t?”
I understood Ryan’s smile.
The lithium story was valuable.
But buried toxic waste could destroy Northline.
Destroy Collins Manufacturing.
Destroy the land.
Destroy everyone who had signed environmental certifications.
Including Robert.
And possibly my trust.
Dad stared at the property.
“Ryan wasn’t selling a treasure.”
Claire nodded slowly.
“He was selling a liability.”
Then an officer approached us.
He carried Ryan’s document case.
Inside were environmental reports.
Twenty years of hidden contamination.
And on the final page was a signature.
My mother’s.
Sarah Carter.
I stared at it.
Dad whispered.
“No.”
May you like
The report claimed my mother had approved disposal on the property.
Nine years after her death.
