Chapter 2 - The Man We Built
Six years earlier, Derek Whitmore had owned almost nothing.
No successful company.
No important connections.
No estate.
No investment portfolio.
Just debt.
A lot of it.
He met Emily at a charity dinner in Virginia.
She liked him because he seemed ambitious.
My father liked him because he appeared humble.
I didn't trust him.
I had met Derek exactly twice before their wedding.
The second time, he asked me how much my father was worth.
He tried to make it sound like a joke.
I remembered it.
Apparently nobody else did.
After the wedding, Dad gave Derek a position at Harrington Logistics.
Not an executive position.
A chance.
Derek turned that chance into a career.
My father introduced him to clients.
Emily helped him build relationships.
Our family guaranteed his first major business loan.
Three years later, Derek was appearing in business magazines as a "self-made entrepreneur."
Self-made.
That word always amused my mother.
Now it made me angry.
I sat across from Emily in the kitchen while Derek paced upstairs.
"Six years?"
She nodded.
"Maybe longer."
"Why didn't you tell Dad?"
"I tried."
"What happened?"
"Derek always had an explanation."
She stared at her hands.
"Missing money became consulting expenses. Strange transfers became tax strategies. New companies became investment vehicles."
"And Dad believed him?"
"Dad wanted to."
That hurt.
Our father, Thomas Harrington, had built Harrington Logistics from two trucks and a rented warehouse.
At seventy-three, he'd finally begun stepping away.
He wanted someone younger to carry the company forward.
Derek had positioned himself perfectly.
"Where is Dad?"
"Richmond."
"Mom?"
"With him."
"Why?"
Emily hesitated.
"Dad had another heart episode."
I froze.
"When?"
"Three weeks ago."
Nobody had told me.
"Why didn't anyone call?"
"Dad wouldn't let us."
Of course he wouldn't.
Thomas Harrington considered hospitals an inconvenience.
I looked toward the ceiling.
"Does Derek know they're gone?"
"Yes."
"That's why he's here."
Emily nodded.
"He came for Dad's original trust documents."
I looked at the flash drive.
"What's on this?"
"Copies of emails. Bank records. Audio recordings."
"Audio?"
Her eyes dropped.
"I started recording him after he threatened me."
I felt something cold settle inside my chest.
"What threat?"
Emily took a breath.
"He said if I interfered with the company transfer, he'd make sure I walked away with nothing."
"That's financial coercion."
"Daniel..."
"What else?"
Silence.
"Emily."
She finally looked at me.
"He said he'd destroy Dad's reputation before he let us take the company back."
My phone buzzed.
A message.
Unknown number.
YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED AWAY, GENERAL.
I stared at it.
Someone knew who I was.
May you like
But when I looked upstairs, Derek was still pacing.
And I suddenly wondered whether my brother-in-law was the only enemy in the house.
