Chapter 1 - He Put His Hands on My Sister
The first thing I heard when I walked into my parents' house was my sister screaming.
Then came the sound of glass breaking.
I dropped my bag.
"Emily?"
No answer.
I moved down the hallway.
Fast.
Another crash came from my father's study.
Then a man's voice.
"You don't own anything in this house anymore!"
I stopped outside the door.
That voice belonged to my brother-in-law.
Derek Whitmore.
The man my family had rescued from bankruptcy.
The man my father had given a job.
The man my mother had welcomed like a son.
The man who apparently believed all of that made him untouchable.
I pushed open the study door.
Emily was backed against my father's desk.
Her cheek was red.
One sleeve of her blouse had been torn near the shoulder.
Derek stood in front of her with one hand wrapped around her wrist.
Documents were scattered across the floor.
My father's old leather briefcase had been ripped open.
Derek looked at me.
For two seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then he frowned.
"Who the hell are you?"
I stared at his hand around my sister's wrist.
"Take your hand off her."
Emily's eyes widened.
"Daniel?"
Derek looked between us.
Then he laughed.
"Oh."
He released her.
"So you're the famous brother."
Not quite.
I was the brother nobody in Derek's social circle had ever met.
For the last eleven years, my assignments had kept me away from home more often than not.
My family knew what I did.
But we rarely discussed details.
Derek apparently knew even less.
He looked at my plain jacket.
My faded jeans.
My old travel bag sitting in the hallway.
Then he smirked.
"I expected more."
I walked toward Emily.
"Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine."
She wasn't.
I knew my sister.
When Emily was afraid, she rubbed her thumb against the side of her index finger.
She was doing it now.
Derek folded his arms.
"This is a private conversation between a husband and wife."
"No."
I looked at the papers on the floor.
"This stopped being private when I heard her scream from the front door."
His expression hardened.
"You've been gone a long time, Daniel."
"Apparently too long."
Emily bent down quickly.
"Please. Both of you. Just stop."
I noticed her trying to gather the papers.
One slid beneath my shoe.
I picked it up.
TRANSFER OF CONTROLLING INTEREST.
HARRINGTON FAMILY HOLDINGS.
My eyes moved lower.
There was my father's name.
Then Emily's.
Then mine.
And beside our names were signatures.
My signature was there too.
There was only one problem.
I had never signed that document.
I looked at Derek.
He was no longer smiling.
"Where did you get this?"
"Company business."
"You forged my signature."
His jaw tightened.
"I didn't forge anything."
I turned the page.
A second document transferred voting rights to a shell corporation called WCG Capital.
"What's WCG?"
Derek stepped forward.
"Give me that."
I moved the paper behind me.
His face changed.
That tiny reaction told me everything.
Emily whispered my name.
"Daniel..."
I looked at her.
"What?"
Tears filled her eyes.
"There's something else."
Derek snapped.
"Emily."
She flinched.
That was when I understood this wasn't one bad argument.
My sister was afraid of her own husband.
I stepped between them.
"Say her name like that again."
Derek stared at me.
"You think you're intimidating?"
"No."
I lowered my voice.
"I'm giving you a warning."
He laughed.
"You disappear for a decade, walk in wearing twenty-dollar jeans, and suddenly you're the protector?"
I didn't answer.
He leaned closer.
"You have no idea how powerful I've become."
That almost made me smile.
Almost.
Then Emily pulled something from her pocket.
A small flash drive.
Derek's face went white.
She pressed it into my hand.
"Everything is on there."
"What everything?"
Emily looked at her husband.
May you like
And whispered—
"He's been stealing from us for six years."
