Chapter 7 - THE SINS OF THE FATHERS“Nobody move!” my father screamed.
His hands were shaking violently as he pointed the revolver at Charles.
“You double-crossed me, Charles!” my father yelled. “My bankers just called. The Ashford bridge loans were pulled. You’re bankrupting me!”
Charles didn't even flinch. “Put the gun down, Richard. You’re making a fool of yourself.”
I stepped in front of my mother and sister.
“Dad, stop,” I said calmly. “It’s over.”
My father’s wild eyes snapped to me. Then he saw Sarah.
All the color drained from his face.
“Sarah,” he breathed.
“Hello, Richard,” my mother said. Her voice was remarkably steady. She didn't cower behind me. She stepped out and faced the man who had ruined her life.
“You look exactly the same,” my father whispered. For a split second, the gun lowered. I saw a flash of genuine regret in his eyes.
“And you look miserable,” Sarah replied. “You traded your family for an empire, Richard. And now you have neither.”
My father’s face hardened again. He raised the gun, pointing it directly at me.
“I’m not losing my company,” he snarled. “Ethan, you are going to sign the trust transfer right now. Or I swear to God—”
“Or what?” Victoria’s voice cut through the room.
We all turned.
Victoria was holding Charles’s silver pocket watch. The one I had found at the cottage.
“You want to talk about betrayal, Richard?” Victoria said, her voice shaking. She looked at her father, Charles, with pure disgust.
She opened the back casing of the pocket watch and pulled out a tiny, folded piece of parchment.
“I found this in your safe yesterday, Dad,” Victoria said to Charles. “I know what you both did.”
Charles’s eyes widened in genuine panic. “Victoria, give that to me.”
Victoria looked at me.
“Ethan,” she said, her voice breaking. “Your grandfather’s trust didn't require you to be married to claim the money. That was a lie.”
My father cocked the hammer of the gun. “Shut your mouth, Victoria!”
“The trust had a morality clause,” Victoria cried out, holding up the parchment. “If it was ever discovered that Richard forced Sarah away, the money would bypass Richard entirely. It would go straight to you and Lily upon your thirty-fourth birthday.”
I stared at her.
“My birthday was yesterday,” I said.
Victoria nodded, tears streaming down her face. “Yes. As of yesterday at midnight, you and Lily own everything. The Whitaker empire. The Ashford holdings. All of it. They arranged the wedding to distract you so they could forge your signature on the transfer documents before the deadline.”
My father let out a guttural scream and aimed the gun squarely at Victoria’s chest.
May you like
“No!” I shouted.
I dove across the room just as the gunshot shattered the silence of the library.
