Chapter 10 - THE DEAL MY FATHER OFFERED ME
Dad asked to see me from a hospital room.
Miriam said no.
Diana said yes.
Victor said nothing.
So naturally, I went.
The hospital had two deputies outside Dad's room. He was not under arrest, technically. He was being held pending questioning about financial records and the warehouse investigation, and his cardiologist had insisted on observation after an abnormal rhythm.
He looked small in the bed.
I hated that.
Anger was easier when he filled a room.
"Harper."
"Dad."
Diana waited in the hallway with Miriam.
I stood by the door.
"You look tired," he said.
"People keep telling me that."
"I never wanted this."
I laughed.
"You built most of it."
He closed his eyes.
"Pike got out of control."
"That's not an explanation."
"No."
For once, he did not argue.
He looked at the heart monitor.
"When your mother got sick, the company was already overextended. I borrowed from her foundation intending to repay it."
"Without telling her."
"She would have said no."
"Exactly."
"I had four hundred employees."
"You had ego."
He flinched.
Good.
Then I hated myself for enjoying it.
Dad continued.
"Pike showed me how to move funds temporarily without triggering lender covenants. He created the companies. He handled signatures."
"So you didn't forge mine."
"No."
"Did you know it was forged?"
His silence answered.
I felt something inside me go cold.
"You knew."
"I suspected."
"You pledged my trust."
"I thought I could repay the loan before it mattered."
"You always think consequences are temporary if they happen to someone else."
He looked at me.
That landed.
"Harper, I can still fix some of this."
"How?"
He reached under his blanket and pulled out a folder.
I did not take it.
"Fifty-one percent of Callaway Development's remaining voting shares."
My pulse jumped.
"To who?"
"You."
I stared.
"Why?"
"Because the board will trust you right now. The press sees you as the victim. Rossi won't move against the company if you control it."
There it was.
Not an apology.
Strategy.
"What do you want?"
He looked wounded.
"I want the company to survive."
"What do you want from me?"
His voice lowered.
"Tell investigators Pike acted independently. Say I believed all signatures were valid."
"No."
"Harper—"
"No."
"You could protect thousands of people."
"How many employees do we actually have?"
He hesitated.
"Six hundred and twelve."
"Not thousands."
His face tightened.
I had learned numbers too.
"How many would lose jobs if Callaway restructures under court supervision?"
"I don't know."
"Miriam's team says fewer than ninety if the profitable divisions are sold intact."
"You've been planning my funeral."
"No. I've been planning around your lies."
He looked away.
I thought of Mom's letter.
Do not give away what is yours to prove you love someone.
Dad had finally offered me power.
Only because he wanted to use it.
"I'll accept the shares if they're transferred through the court and reviewed for creditor claims."
His head snapped back.
Hope flashed across his face.
"And I will tell investigators the truth."
The hope vanished.
"You ungrateful—"
He stopped himself.
Too late.
I smiled sadly.
"There you are."
His eyes filled with fury.
"I gave you everything."
"You gave me food and a house. You also taught me that gratitude meant silence."
"I am your father."
"Yes."
The word hurt.
"That's why this is sad."
I turned to leave.
"Rossi will ruin you."
I stopped.
"No."
"He'll get bored. Men like him always do. You think you're special because he crossed a ballroom?"
My hand tightened on the door handle.
Dad continued.
"He wants the land. Once he has it, you're nothing to him."
I turned.
"You know what the difference is between Victor and you?"
Dad's face hardened.
"He told me what he wants."
Silence.
"And when I said no, he stopped."
I left.
In the hallway, Diana was crying.
"Did you hear?"
She nodded.
Miriam touched my shoulder.
"You did well."
"I feel sick."
"Both can be true."
Victor waited downstairs.
He had brought no entourage, only a driver.
We walked outside.
"You don't have to ask how it went," I said.
"I wasn't going to."
"Liar."
"Fair."
I told him about the shares.
He stopped.
"Fifty-one percent?"
"Potentially."
"That's control."
"I know."
"Do you want it?"
The question startled me.
Everyone assumed I should.
"I don't know."
"Then don't decide today."
I laughed.
"You really enjoy saying that."
"What?"
"That I don't have to decide."
"Maybe because nobody said it to you."
We reached the car.
I did not get in.
"Victor."
"Yes?"
"If I take control of Callaway, your loan becomes my problem."
"The loan is being restructured."
"Still."
"Still."
"If I offer the easement later, you'll pay market rate."
"Yes."
"No discount because you rescued me from bad shoes."
His mouth twitched.
"I did not rescue you."
"You stole my club soda."
"True."
"And ordered my sister to fetch my coat."
"Also true."
"Very heroic."
"I've been called worse."
The humor faded.
I looked at him.
"What if the federal investigation hurts your companies?"
"It will."
"And you still won't buy Pike's silence?"
"No."
I stepped closer.
He remained still.
I kissed him.
It was not elegant.
I surprised both of us.
His hand lifted, stopped inches from my waist, and waited.
I nodded.
Only then did he touch me.
The kiss deepened for one breath.
Then I stepped back.
Victor's eyes were dark.
"Harper."
"Don't make this into a contract."
"I wasn't planning to."
"Good."
My phone rang.
Miriam.
I answered.
Her voice was urgent.
"The board just called an emergency meeting."
"When?"
"Tomorrow morning."
"Why?"
"Malcolm's proxy was activated."
"What proxy?"
She paused.
"One that gives Diana temporary voting authority over his shares."
I looked toward the hospital.
"Diana?"
She was coming through the doors behind us, phone to her ear, face white.
"I didn't know," she said.
Miriam continued through my speaker.
"Someone filed the proxy twenty minutes ago."
Diana shook her head.
"I swear to you, Harper. I didn't."
I believed her.
Which meant someone was still forging our names.
Pike was in custody.
May you like
Dad was in a hospital bed.
And yet the machine they built was still moving without them.
