Chapter 9 - THE LEAK
Daniel moved quickly.
The lottery claim structure was still private.
My parents couldn’t legally prove the ticket belonged to me.
But someone had been digging.
“Could they take it?” Jake asked.
“No,” Daniel said. “But if Robert believes Emily has money, he may change strategy.”
He did.
The next morning, Dad sent me a text.
I’M SORRY.
That was it.
Two minutes later:
CAN WE HAVE DINNER?
Then:
JUST YOU AND ME.
I showed Daniel.
“Absolutely not alone,” he said.
So Dad chose a public restaurant.
Daniel sat three tables away.
Jake waited in the car.
Dad arrived wearing the navy blazer he wore whenever he wanted strangers to think he was important.
He looked older.
For the first time in my life, I saw fear beneath the confidence.
“You look good,” he said.
“My leg’s in a brace.”
“You know what I mean.”
“No, I don’t.”
He exhaled.
“Emily, mistakes were made.”
I stared at him.
“By who?”
“By all of us.”
I laughed.
“What did I steal?”
His jaw tightened.
“You always do this.”
“Do what?”
“Turn everything into a battle.”
“You bought Madison a yacht using my inheritance while I was begging you for surgery.”
His eyes flicked around the restaurant.
“Keep your voice down.”
That told me everything about him.
Not stop because it was wrong.
Stop because people might hear.
He leaned forward.
“The company was going under.”
“So?”
“Forty employees.”
“You keep saying that like they forged my signature.”
“I was trying to protect everyone.”
“Except Jake and me.”
His voice dropped.
“Madison needed help too.”
“With what? Parking her yacht?”
“Don’t be childish.”
I stood.
“We’re done.”
Dad grabbed my wrist.
Not hard.
But he shouldn’t have touched me at all.
Daniel was on his feet immediately.
Dad released me.
“You’re really going to send your own father to prison?”
“I’m not the prosecutor.”
His face went pale.
Before I left, Dad whispered:
“If you think Grandpa was some saint, ask your lawyer why he created a fourth trust.”
I stopped.
“Fourth?”
Dad smiled for the first time.
“See?”
I stared at him.
“What fourth trust?”
He leaned back.
“Ask Samuel.”
I left without another word.
Daniel called Samuel from the parking lot.
The old attorney went quiet when we asked.
Too quiet.
“Samuel?”
Finally, he sighed.
“Yes.”
My heart started pounding.
“There was another trust.”
“For who?”
Samuel hesitated.
May you like
Then answered.
“For a child your family never told you existed.”
