Chapter 2 - THE SEVEN-MILLION-DOLLAR LIEDiane dropped into the nearest chair.
Robert did not move at all.
Ryan stared at my father.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Dad nodded toward Margaret.
She removed a thick packet of documents from her briefcase.
“I know exactly what I’m talking about.”
Ryan laughed.
It sounded forced.
“You drive over here with some lawyer and expect everyone to believe whatever you say?”
Margaret answered before my father could.
“My name is Margaret Sloan.”
She placed a business card on the entry table.
“I represent the Carter Family Trust, Hawthorne Residential Holdings, and several related entities.”
Ryan looked at the card.
He did not touch it.
Margaret continued.
“We have spent the last forty-eight hours reviewing financial activity connected to this property.”
My head turned toward Dad.
“Forty-eight hours?”
Dad looked at me.
“I received an alert Thursday.”
“What kind of alert?”
“A lien search.”
Ryan’s eyes closed for half a second.
Dad saw it.
“So did you.”
Ryan looked away.
Robert took the papers from Margaret.
His hands trembled as he began reading.
“What is this?”
Margaret pointed to the first page.
“That is a financing statement filed by Lone Star Commercial Lending.”
Robert scanned it.
Then he looked at Ryan.
“This says Collins Advanced Manufacturing pledged this property as supplemental collateral.”
Ryan’s voice hardened.
“It’s standard financing.”
Robert slapped the paper against his chest.
“You told me the company was debt free.”
“It practically is.”
“Seven million dollars is not practically debt free.”
Diane stood again.
“Robert, calm down.”
He wheeled on her.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“Did you know?”
“No!”
Ryan paced toward the living room.
“This is being twisted.”
Dad watched him.
“Then untwist it.”
Ryan stopped.
“You never liked me.”
“That is irrelevant.”
“You thought I wasn’t good enough for Emily.”
“I thought you were ambitious.”
Ryan smirked.
“Same thing to people like you.”
Dad’s expression did not change.
“I also thought my daughter loved you.”
The smirk vanished.
“That mattered more.”
I stared at my father.
For six years, I had believed he hated my husband so much that he was willing to lose me.
Now I suddenly wondered how much of that story had ever been true.
Robert turned another page.
His face became darker.
“Ryan.”
No answer.
“What is this signature?”
Ryan looked.
Robert held up the page.
“My signature.”
He walked closer.
“I never signed this.”
Diane whispered.
“Robert.”
“I never signed this.”
Ryan rubbed a hand across his mouth.
“Dad, you signed a stack of documents last year.”
“Not this.”
“You might not remember.”
Robert stared at him.
“I am sixty-eight years old, not senile.”
“It was just a guarantee.”
“For seven million dollars?”
“The company needed temporary liquidity.”
“You said we had nineteen million in cash reserves.”
“We do.”
“Then why borrow seven?”
Ryan’s face tightened.
Nobody answered.
Margaret took another document from her folder.
“The seven million is not the largest problem.”
Ryan looked at her.
I almost did not want to hear what came next.
Margaret handed the document to me.
I stared at rows of numbers I did not understand.
“What is it?”
“An asset transfer schedule.”
“For what?”
“The Collins company.”
Robert looked up sharply.
Margaret pointed at the first column.
“Three years ago, Ryan began moving intellectual property, equipment titles, and vendor contracts out of Collins Advanced Manufacturing.”
Robert’s face went blank.
“Into what?”
“Four separate LLCs.”
Diane looked at Ryan.
“Why?”
Ryan glared at Margaret.
“She doesn’t know what she’s reading.”
Margaret’s eyebrows lifted slightly.
“I wrote the recovery memo.”
That silenced him.
She continued.
“Two of the LLCs are owned through nominees.”
Robert swallowed.
“And the other two?”
Margaret turned toward me.
“One is registered to Emily.”
I felt the room tilt.
“What?”
Ryan immediately spoke.
“You signed it.”
I stared at him.
“Signed what?”
“The formation documents.”
“When?”
“Years ago.”
“I don’t remember that.”
“You signed a lot of estate paperwork.”
My blood went cold.
He had used my inheritance documents.
Dad’s expression became terrifyingly quiet.
Margaret continued.
“The fourth LLC is registered to Lily Collins.”
I could not process the sentence.
“My daughter?”
Lily stared up at me.
“I own a company?”
Ryan snapped.
“Stop talking.”
Dad moved between Ryan and Lily.
“Do not speak to her like that.”
Ryan took a step toward him.
One of the men who had arrived with Dad moved forward.
Dad raised a hand.
The man stopped.
Ryan looked at him.
“What, you brought bodyguards?”
Dad glanced at my bruising shoulder.
“I brought witnesses.”
That shut Ryan up.
Robert lowered himself into a chair.
“My granddaughter is ten.”
Margaret nodded.
“Which is why any transaction involving her ownership interest requires a guardian or trustee authorization.”
Ryan looked toward the stairs.
Margaret noticed.
“So far, we have identified three documents supposedly signed on Lily’s behalf.”
I felt sick.
“By whom?”
Margaret looked directly at Ryan.
“By you.”
Lily tightened her grip around my hand.
I pulled her close.
Dad looked at Margaret.
“Tell them the rest.”
She opened another folder.
“There is a pending letter of intent to sell substantially all of Collins Advanced Manufacturing.”
Robert blinked.
“What?”
Diane looked confused.
“Sell?”
Robert turned toward Ryan.
“You said negotiations had stopped.”
Ryan said nothing.
Margaret continued.
“The buyer is Northline Industrial Partners.”
Robert stared at his son.
“For how much?”
Margaret glanced at the document.
“Thirty-eight million dollars.”
Diane’s hand flew to her mouth.
Robert stood.
“You were selling my company for thirty-eight million dollars?”
“It’s my company now.”
“I built it.”
“You gave me controlling shares.”
“To run it.”
“Control is control.”
Robert crossed the room so fast that I thought he might hit him.
Instead, he stopped inches away.
“You were selling it without telling me?”
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
“After closing.”
Robert stared at him.
“After you took the money.”
Ryan did not answer.
Margaret spoke again.
“Not all of the money.”
Robert turned.
“What does that mean?”
“The sale structure requires certain assets to be transferred back into the operating company before closing.”
Dad looked at me.
“Assets Ryan quietly moved into companies registered under your name and Lily’s.”
I finally understood why he was panicking.
“He needs my signature.”
Margaret nodded.
“Yes.”
Ryan laughed suddenly.
“There’s nothing illegal about restructuring.”
“No.”
Margaret agreed.
“But there is something illegal about forged authorization documents.”
Ryan’s laughter stopped.
Diane stepped between them.
“You cannot accuse my son of forgery in his own home.”
Dad looked around.
“Again, not his home.”
Diane’s face flushed.
I almost expected another argument.
But Lily tugged at my sleeve.
“Mom.”
I looked down.
She seemed frightened.
“What is it, sweetheart?”
She glanced toward Ryan.
“I think Dad has papers in Grandpa’s office.”
Ryan’s face changed instantly.
“What papers?”
Lily moved closer to me.
“The ones you told Uncle Mark never to let Mom see.”
Every adult in the room went still.
Ryan’s younger brother, Mark, had not been at dinner.
He lived twenty minutes away.
Ryan forced a laugh.
“She’s a child.”
Lily’s eyes filled with tears.
“You said it.”
“When?”
“Last Sunday.”
Ryan shook his head.
“I wasn’t here last Sunday.”
“Yes, you were.”
“No, I wasn’t.”
Lily pointed toward the hallway.
“You were in Grandpa’s office.”
Ryan’s expression hardened.
“You were spying on me?”
“She’s ten.”
I stepped in front of her.
“Don’t you dare.”
He glared at me.
“This is why children should stay out of adult conversations.”
Dad crouched in front of Lily.
“Sweetheart, did you see where your father put the papers?”
She nodded.
Ryan moved toward her.
Margaret stepped into his path.
“Do not approach the child.”
“This is my daughter.”
“And there are now allegations involving falsified documents in her name.”
Ryan looked as though he wanted to shove her.
Instead, he stepped back.
Dad spoke softly to Lily.
“You don’t have to tell us anything if you’re scared.”
Lily looked at me.
Then she whispered.
“There’s a hidden drawer.”
Robert frowned.
“In my office?”
She nodded.
“Under the bottom shelf.”
Ryan bolted.
He turned and sprinted toward the hallway.
Robert shouted.
“Ryan!”
Everyone moved at once.
Dad’s security men ran after him.
I grabbed Lily and stayed behind.
A door slammed.
Then something crashed.
Robert ran down the hallway.
I followed at a distance.
Ryan was inside the office.
One of Dad’s men had stopped him near the desk.
Ryan was holding a metal wastebasket.
Smoke curled from inside it.
Margaret rushed forward.
“What did you burn?”
Ryan shoved the basket toward her.
One of the guards knocked it aside.
Charred papers spilled across the hardwood floor.
Dad entered behind me.
He stared at the smoking documents.
Then at his son-in-law.
“You just destroyed evidence in front of six witnesses.”
Ryan’s chest heaved.
“You don’t know what that was.”
Lily’s small voice came from behind me.
“That wasn’t the drawer.”
Ryan stopped breathing.
Everyone looked at her.
She pointed toward the bookcase.
“The hidden drawer is over there.”
Ryan’s face went white.
Robert walked toward the shelf.
He crouched.
His fingers searched beneath the wood.
Then we heard a click.
A narrow compartment slid open.
Inside was a black leather ledger.
Three passports.
A flash drive.
And a sealed envelope.
My name was written across the front.
Not Emily Collins.
Emily Carter.
In my father’s handwriting.
Dad stared at it.
“I wrote that letter six years ago.”
My hands began trembling.
“You sent me a letter?”
“Eleven of them.”
I looked at Ryan.
He did not meet my eyes.
My father picked up the envelope.
The seal had been broken.
Then he turned it over.
May you like
Across the back, Ryan had written two words in black ink.
DO NOT DELIVER.
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