Chapter 11 - THE BULLET
The bullet hit Dad’s coat.
Not Dad.
It lodged in the metal head of his cane.
For three seconds, nobody understood.
Then Dad looked down.
“So.”
He lifted the cane.
“That was expensive.”
I laughed and cried at the same time.
Police pinned Celeste to the floor.
She screamed until her voice broke.
Adrian sat in water, staring at his hands.
Victor stood over his daughter.
He looked destroyed.
Not relieved.
Destroyed.
The wedding ended in handcuffs.
Again.
This time bail was denied.
The gun belonged to Victor.
Registered.
Celeste had taken it from his study months earlier.
That created another problem.
Victor had never reported it missing.
Prosecutors asked why.
He said he did not know it was gone.
Celeste said he gave it to her.
One of them was lying.
Then investigators found Victor’s fingerprints on the storage case.
Expected.
And a text.
From Victor to Celeste.
TAKE WHAT YOU NEED FROM THE STUDY.
Sent six months earlier.
He claimed it referred to documents.
Prosecutors were not convinced.
Victor was charged with unsafe storage and obstruction related to earlier complaints.
Harrow Crest shares collapsed.
The board asked Dad to take control.
He refused.
That surprised everyone.
He said.
“I lend money.”
“I do not inherit disasters for sport.”
Instead, Mercer Dominion proposed a restructuring.
Independent board.
Employee restitution fund.
Sale of private jets.
Sale of Victor’s company apartment.
Executive bonuses frozen.
Celeste’s trust distribution suspended.
Victor called it humiliation.
Dad replied.
“No.”
“Consequences are not humiliation.”
Then a union representative produced payroll records.
Harrow Crest had been stealing time.
Thousands of employees.
Years.
The company did not owe millions.
May you like
It owed nearly ninety million dollars.
