Chapter 4 - The Fire
By the time Daniel reached the records floor, an alarm was screaming.
Smoke crawled along the ceiling.
“Mom!”
Security officers rushed toward a storage room.
One carried a fire extinguisher.
Daniel grabbed Patricia as she stumbled into the hallway coughing.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know!”
Ryan appeared behind him.
“You don’t know?”
Patricia glared at him.
“A trash can caught fire.”
“At three in the morning?”
“I came here to find documents.”
“What documents?”
“Personal ones.”
Ryan laughed in disbelief.
“Inside corporate records?”
The fire was small.
Security extinguished it quickly.
But the smell of burned paper filled the corridor.
A guard approached.
“Mr. Whitmore?”
Daniel turned.
“We need everyone to remain here until the fire department arrives.”
Patricia snapped, “This is ridiculous.”
The guard looked uncomfortable.
“There’s another issue.”
“What?”
He held up a small black object.
A USB drive.
“We found this beside Mrs. Whitmore.”
Patricia froze.
Daniel looked at her.
“Mom?”
“It’s mine.”
“What’s on it?”
“Nothing.”
Ryan stepped forward.
“Then you won’t mind us checking.”
Patricia snatched for it.
The guard pulled back.
“Ma’am.”
“Give me that!”
Daniel grabbed his mother’s wrist.
“Stop.”
She looked at him.
For one second, Daniel saw fear in her eyes.
Real fear.
His voice dropped.
“What’s on the drive?”
Patricia pulled her arm free.
“You don’t understand what Emily is doing.”
“Then explain it.”
“She’s trying to destroy us.”
“No. Right now, I’m watching you try to burn documents.”
“I wasn’t burning anything!”
Ryan pointed toward the security camera.
“Good. Then the footage will prove it.”
Patricia looked toward the camera.
Her face changed.
Daniel noticed.
Before he could speak, the elevator doors opened.
Emily stepped out.
She wore black pants, a gray coat, and no jewelry.
Michael Grant walked beside her.
Daniel recognized him immediately.
Not personally.
By reputation.
Michael was a corporate attorney whose name appeared in newspapers whenever large companies entered ugly boardroom fights.
Daniel stared at Emily.
“You came.”
Emily looked past him toward the smoke.
“So did your mother.”
Patricia stepped forward.
“You.”
Michael raised a hand.
“Mrs. Whitmore, I strongly recommend that you stop speaking.”
Patricia laughed.
“You don’t represent me.”
“No.”
Michael glanced at the USB drive.
“But you may wish someone did.”
Daniel looked at Emily.
“What happens now?”
“The board meets at nine.”
“And until then?”
“We secure records.”
“This is my company.”
Emily held his gaze.
“No, Daniel.”
He flinched.
She softened slightly.
“It hasn’t been yours for years.”
That hurt more than he expected.
Patricia moved closer.
“You think Arthur wanted this?”
Emily’s face changed.
“Don’t use his name.”
“He would be disgusted.”
“You want to talk about Arthur?”
Emily took one step forward.
“Fine.”
She opened her purse and removed a sealed envelope.
Patricia went still.
Daniel noticed immediately.
“What is that?”
Emily looked at Patricia.
“You recognize it?”
Patricia said nothing.
Emily handed it to Daniel.
His name was written across the front.
In his father’s handwriting.
DANIEL—IF THINGS EVER GO WRONG, READ THIS WITHOUT YOUR MOTHER IN THE ROOM.
Daniel’s breathing stopped.
He looked at Emily.
“You had this?”
“Your father gave it to me two days before he died.”
“Why didn’t you give it to me?”
“He made me promise not to.”
“Until when?”
Emily glanced at Patricia.
“Until she tried to take the company back by force.”
Patricia suddenly lunged forward.
“Give me that!”
Daniel stepped back.
Everyone froze.
Daniel stared at his mother.
Then at the envelope.
For the first time in his life, he was afraid to open something his father had left him.
Slowly, he tore it open.
The first line made his knees feel weak.
May you like
Daniel—
If you’re reading this, your mother has done exactly what I was afraid she would do.
