Chapter 8 - The Price of Protecting a Son
Margaret Bennett stood at the foot of her husband's bed.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then she looked at Walter.
"I changed the medication order."
Christopher recoiled.
"Mom, why?"
Margaret pressed her trembling hands together.
"Because Walter was going to confess without telling the whole truth."
Dominic stared.
"You nearly killed him."
"No. I intended to make him too ill to attend the charity dinner. I reduced the medication at first. Someone changed it again afterward."
Daniel examined the audit report.
"There were two revisions."
Dominic turned.
"What?"
Daniel pointed to the timestamps.
"Margaret entered the first change. Thirty-six minutes later, a second person increased the dosage."
Walter closed his eyes.
"Victoria."
Margaret nodded.
"She knew."
Christopher looked from one parent to the other.
"Both of you were hiding things from me?"
Margaret's eyes filled.
"We were trying to protect you."
"From what?"
"From learning that we used stolen compensation money to save your business."
Christopher looked toward Dominic.
"I never asked them to do that."
Walter's voice was weak.
"You asked me to help."
"I asked for a loan!"
"I know."
The simple admission sounded almost unbearable.
Dominic remembered his father's repeated arguments with Walter during the final months of his life.
Anthony had wanted to abandon their shipping partnership.
Walter had insisted they could repair it.
Now Dominic understood why.
The company wasn't merely losing money.
It had survived by taking money intended for families harmed by its own operations.
Margaret sat beside the bed.
"Anthony came to our house three days before he died. He told Walter he had discovered everything."
Walter nodded.
"He gave me forty-eight hours to report the transfers."
"And you refused?" Dominic asked.
"I asked for time."
"How much?"
"Six months."
Dominic looked away.
"My father gave you two days because people needed that money."
Walter stared at the ceiling.
"I know that now."
"Then why was he at the warehouse?"
Walter swallowed.
"Peter Bell said he'd found the original transfer records. Anthony wanted them before going to the authorities."
Daniel frowned.
"Peter told me he was afraid of Victoria."
Walter nodded.
"Victoria had discovered that Peter was investigating her false identity."
Christopher shook his head.
"Why was she using Charlotte Wells's name?"
Walter looked toward Rose, who had just entered with Gabriel.
Rose's face tightened.
"Because she was helping Peter uncover another theft."
Everyone turned.
Rose stepped into the room.
"Peter was investigating the missing money. Victoria wasn't stealing it then."
Daniel stared at her.
"She was his assistant."
"Yes. And she was the one who discovered Walter's transfers."
Christopher's expression changed.
"My wife tried to expose my father?"
Rose nodded.
"Until Peter died."
Walter closed his eyes.
Rose looked at him.
"Tell them what happened after the fire."
Walter shook his head.
"Rose—"
"Six years, Walter."
Her voice broke.
"Six years of pretending Peter simply disappeared."
Dominic stepped forward.
"What did Victoria do?"
Rose's hands trembled.
"She found Peter's notes. They said Walter had arranged the warehouse meeting to destroy the records."
Walter spoke immediately.
"That isn't true."
"Then why did Samuel Cross die?"
Walter looked stricken.
"Because somebody locked the loading bay."
Dominic froze.
"Who?"
Walter looked toward Margaret.
She shook her head.
"No."
Christopher stared.
"Mom?"
Margaret's face drained.
"I didn't know Samuel was inside."
The room went silent.
Dominic felt something in him harden.
"You locked the loading bay?"
Margaret closed her eyes.
"Walter told me a man was going to steal the company records. He said locking the loading entrance would force him to use the front doors, where security could stop him."
Daniel whispered, "Samuel was repairing the electrical panel."
Margaret began crying.
"I didn't know."
Rose looked at her.
"Peter went back inside to get Samuel out."
Walter nodded weakly.
"Anthony went after him."
Dominic's heart thudded.
"Then what killed my father?"
Walter opened his eyes.
"The fire didn't. Anthony got out."
Dominic stared.
"Then what happened?"
Walter's voice broke.
"He collapsed later that night, after confronting me about Samuel's death."
Dominic remembered Anthony's official cause of death.
A heart attack.
He had spent six years imagining his father dying alone at his desk.
Now he learned Anthony had been alive after the fire.
Fighting for the people Walter had betrayed.
Walter continued.
"Anthony had a heart condition. The confrontation pushed him too far. I called for help, but I told the ambulance crew he'd collapsed at home."
"Why?"
"Because I didn't want questions about the warehouse."
Dominic stepped back.
"You changed where he died."
Walter nodded.
"I did."
"And you let me believe he had simply gone to bed and never woken up."
"Yes."
Dominic turned away.
He couldn't look at the old man.
Outside the medical wing, Emily found Dominic standing beside a window.
The sun had begun rising over the gardens.
He was holding Anthony's pocket watch.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"No."
She stood beside him.
He didn't seem surprised.
"My father spent his final night trying to protect people Walter had robbed," Dominic said.
Emily looked down.
"And my mother spent six years afraid to talk about it."
Dominic nodded.
"Your mother deserves justice."
"So does yours."
He looked at her.
"Mine?"
"Your mother died believing your father was a good man. You spent years doubting him because Walter hid the truth."
Dominic closed the watch.
"I don't even know what I believe anymore."
Emily answered softly.
"Believe what people did when it mattered."
He looked at her for a long moment.
Then Gabriel appeared.
"Dominic. Victoria's been located."
"Where?"
"At the old warehouse property."
Dominic frowned.
"Why would she go there?"
"Because someone sent her a message about the original records."
"Who?"
Gabriel hesitated.
"Christopher."
Dominic turned sharply.
"Christopher is upstairs."
"Yes. He sent the message from Walter's office while we were talking."
Dominic felt a sudden unease.
"What did it say?"
Gabriel showed him the phone.
I know who actually started the fire. Meet me where it happened. Bring the account books.
Dominic stared.
"Christopher knows?"
Gabriel nodded.
"He says he found something in Lily's sketchbook."
Emily looked up.
"Lily's drawing?"
Gabriel's expression changed.
"No. Another drawing."
He handed Dominic a photograph of the page.
Lily had drawn a man standing beside a red truck.
Underneath, in a child's careful handwriting, were the words:
GRANDPA SAID THIS MAN MADE EVERYBODY CRY.
Dominic recognized the truck.
It belonged to his own security fleet.
But the license plate in Lily's drawing ended with a number he hadn't seen in years.
217\.
Gabriel's old vehicle.
Dominic slowly looked at the man beside him.
"Gabriel."
His former security chief went pale.
May you like
Then Dominic asked the question that changed everything.
"Why was your truck at the warehouse the night my father died?"
