Chapter 8 - The Man in the Foyer
Daniel grabbed Emily’s hand.
“Stay behind me.”
They moved toward the staircase.
Emergency lights flickered weakly.
A man stood in the foyer.
Tall.
Gray-haired.
Wearing a dark overcoat.
Margaret stopped.
“Oh my God.”
Daniel turned.
“You know him?”
Margaret whispered, “Samuel Price.”
Emily recognized the name.
Samuel Price had been Richard Ashbourne’s chief financial officer.
He disappeared after the company collapsed.
Most people believed he fled overseas.
Samuel looked at Emily.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then tears appeared in his eyes.
“You have Clara’s face.”
Emily’s throat tightened.
“You knew my mother?”
“I helped her.”
Vanessa descended behind them.
“You.”
Samuel’s expression turned cold.
“Gerald’s daughter.”
Vanessa smiled without humor.
“You should be dead.”
“So should your father.”
“He is.”
Samuel nodded.
“I know.”
Emily stepped forward.
“Why are you here?”
Samuel removed a small red notebook from inside his coat.
Everyone froze.
The ledger.
Vanessa lunged.
Daniel blocked her.
Samuel held it toward Emily.
“Your mother asked me to keep this until you came back.”
Emily stared.
“You saw her?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Twenty-two years ago.”
“After Gerald found her?”
“Yes.”
“Then what happened?”
Samuel looked tired.
“Clara made it to Canada.”
Emily’s eyes filled.
“She escaped?”
“For a while.”
Daniel whispered, “Where did she go?”
“Montreal.”
Samuel had arranged a new identity.
Clara worked in a bakery.
She saved money.
She planned to return for Emily when Richard stopped searching.
He never did.
“What happened to her?”
Samuel looked at Emily.
“Your grandfather found her three years later.”
Emily closed her eyes.
“And?”
Samuel’s voice broke.
“She died running from him.”
Margaret covered her mouth.
Daniel looked devastated.
Emily did not cry.
Not yet.
She stared at the red ledger.
“Then this is what she died protecting.”
“Yes.”
Samuel handed it to her.
Vanessa shouted.
“You don’t know what you’re doing!”
Emily opened the cover.
Inside were transaction records.
Offshore accounts.
Bribes.
Property transfers.
Names.
Richard Ashbourne.
Gerald Vale.
Judges.
Bankers.
Politicians.
Then Emily saw another name.
Daniel Ashbourne.
Her heart stopped.
She looked at him.
Daniel stared at the page.
“No.”
Emily stepped back.
“Your name is here.”
Vanessa laughed.
“Finally.”
Daniel shook his head.
“I was seventeen.”
Samuel stepped closer.
“Look at the dates.”
Daniel read.
His face changed.
The transactions occurred after his eighteenth birthday.
After Richard’s death.
After Daniel claimed he had rebuilt his fortune independently.
Emily stared.
“You knew about this.”
Daniel looked at her.
“I can explain.”
May you like
Vanessa smiled.
“Now you know why he wanted to play hero downstairs.”
