Chapter 16 - Nowhere Left to Run
Derek made it nine miles across the lake.
Then the engine failed.
Dad had been complaining about that engine for two years.
For once, I was grateful he never fixed anything on time.
Marine patrol found Derek drifting near the eastern shore.
He had the corporate seal.
Two forged contracts.
Three phones.
$180,000 in cash.
And a passport.
Cynthia surrendered at the lake house.
Derek didn't.
He jumped into the water.
In November.
He lasted less than two minutes before begging officers to pull him out.
By sunrise, he was sitting in custody wrapped in a gray blanket.
The empire he thought he'd built was gone.
But Emily wasn't celebrating.
She sat beside Dad's hospital bed.
Quiet.
I sat beside her.
"You okay?"
"No."
"Fair."
She looked at me.
"I loved him."
"I know."
"That's the stupid part."
"No."
She turned toward me.
"You don't think I'm stupid?"
"Trusting someone isn't stupid."
"Continuing to trust them after they show you who they are can become dangerous."
She nodded slowly.
"I kept thinking he'd go back to the man I married."
"Maybe that man never existed."
That hurt her.
I saw it.
So I added—
"But you existed."
She looked at me.
"You still do."
Her eyes filled.
This time she didn't hide the tears.
Dad opened one eye.
"Are we having a family moment without me?"
Emily laughed through her tears.
"Go back to sleep."
"I own the company."
"You almost lost the company."
Dad frowned.
"Technicality."
For the first time in weeks, we laughed.
Then Rebecca walked into the room.
She wasn't laughing.
"Derek wants to make a deal."
Dad groaned.
"What does that rat have left to trade?"
Rebecca looked at me.
"Names."
"What names?"
"People inside Harrington Logistics."
The room went silent.
May you like
Derek and Vane weren't the only ones.
Not even close.
