Chapter 6: The Daughter He Never Forgot
Isabella stared at the envelope.
“Why would your father write to me?”
Maria sat beside her.
“Because you helped him when he fell outside the hotel.”
“I was sixteen.”
“He never forgot.”
Isabella opened the letter while Helen inserted the memory card into her laptop.
“My dear Isabella,” she read.
“Kindness shown when no reward is possible is the truest measure of character.”
I looked away.
Isabella touched my sleeve.
“You used almost the same words in the ballroom.”
“My father said them to me all my life.”
Maria nodded.
“He also said wealth makes people perform goodness.
He wanted his son to learn the difference without becoming cruel.”
The words struck the place Brooke had already wounded.
“Did he blame me for the accident?” I asked.
Maria reached across the table.
“Your father never blamed you.”
“Brooke said—”
“Brooke wasn’t there that night.
I was.”
Helen opened the video file.
My father appeared on the screen, thinner than I remembered but alert.
“I revoke every prior draft transferring control to my nephew, Chad,” he said.
“My son, Graham, remains my successor.
If this recording is missing, someone I trusted has chosen money over family.”
Chad’s voice came from somewhere off camera.
“Uncle Edmund, Graham caused the crash.”
My father leaned toward the lens.
“You were driving, Chad.”
I stopped breathing.
The recording continued.
“You left before the ambulance arrived,” my father said.
“Graham took responsibility because he thought protecting you would save this family.”
Maria paused the video.
Isabella turned to me.
“You let everyone believe it was your fault?”
“Chad had a wife and a baby then.
I thought one mistake shouldn’t ruin their lives.”
“And he repaid you by taking your father’s company.”
A knock sounded at the apartment door.
Mrs.
Foster looked through the peephole.
“It’s the polished woman from the hotel.”
Brooke entered when Maria opened the door.
She carried the stolen tin box.
“I came to return this,” she said.
“After having Maria’s home searched?” I asked.
“I didn’t order that.”
“Chad’s parking pass was left outside.”
Her face hardened.
“Chad is frightened.
Frightened men make ugly choices.”
“And what do you make?”
“Deals.”
She placed a check on the table.
The number had six zeros.
“Isabella signs a statement admitting she copied the staff card.
Maria says her memory is unreliable.
Graham withdraws his challenge.”
Maria pushed the check back.
“Edmund fed my family when my husband left.
You cannot buy that.”
Brooke looked at me.
“The board meets tomorrow.
Chad has enough votes to sell three hotels before Helen gets an injunction.”
“To whom?”
“A development company that will close them, dismiss the staff, and strip the properties.”
Isabella stood.
“Thousands of people work in those hotels.”
“Then persuade Graham to accept the transfer.”
I picked up the check and tore it in half.
Brooke’s mouth tightened.
“Your father protected you from the truth, Graham.
Chad wasn’t alone in that car.”
“Who else was there?”
She moved toward the door.
“Accept the deal, and I’ll tell you.”
“No.”
“Then ask Helen why your father paid her to seal the passenger list.”
Helen went still.
Brooke noticed.
“That’s what I thought,” she said.
“Tomorrow, you’ll lose the company—and learn your father lied to you too.”
After she left, I faced Helen.
“Who was the other passenger?”
May you like
Helen closed the laptop.
“Your mother,” she said.
