Chapter 4 - The First Move
Michael killed the workshop lights.
“Back office.”
Willow did not argue.
Helena followed her while Michael locked the steel box and carried it with both hands.
The SUV slowed outside.
Nobody got out.
It simply rolled past the building.
Then disappeared around the corner.
Willow watched through a crack in the blinds.
“They found us.”
Michael nodded.
“Richard has always been fast when he’s afraid.”
Helena looked at the steel box.
“What do we do?”
Michael reached for his phone.
“We stop hiding.”
He called a number.
A woman answered after one ring.
“Michael?”
“It’s time.”
There was silence.
Then the woman asked one question.
“Is Willow safe?”
Michael looked at his daughter.
“For the moment.”
“I’ll meet you at seven.”
The call ended.
Willow stared at him.
“Who was that?”
“Someone Richard hoped would never speak again.”
Across Chicago, Lucas Sterling stood in his penthouse watching his career disintegrate in real time.
The ballroom video had crossed two million views.
Sterling Global’s communications director had called five times.
Two charity boards had requested emergency meetings.
A senator had removed photographs of himself beside Lucas.
Lucas threw his phone onto the couch.
“This is insane.”
Richard stood at the window.
“This is not about the slap anymore.”
Lucas turned.
“What the hell was that envelope?”
Richard did not answer.
“Dad.”
“Forget it.”
“You looked like you saw a ghost.”
Richard turned sharply.
“You will stay away from Donovan.”
Lucas laughed.
“He’s a mechanic.”
Richard crossed the room.
The back of his hand struck Lucas across the mouth.
Lucas staggered.
For the first time in his life, his father had hit him.
Richard leaned close.
“You arrogant little idiot.”
Lucas touched his lip.
Richard’s eyes burned.
“You may have just handed that mechanic the one thing he needed.”
“What?”
“Public sympathy.”
Lucas stared.
Richard walked to the liquor cabinet.
“There are documents that should have disappeared decades ago.”
“What documents?”
Richard poured whiskey with an unsteady hand.
“Documents that could be misunderstood.”
Lucas’s expression changed.
“About Sterling Global?”
Richard drank.
Lucas suddenly remembered childhood arguments behind office doors.
Names his parents stopped saying when he entered the room.
Hale.
Evelyn.
Donovan.
“Amanda knew something.”
Richard froze.
Lucas saw it.
His first wife had left suddenly.
No explanation had ever made sense.
Richard had told everyone she had become unstable.
Lucas had believed him.
Now he remembered Amanda’s last night in their house.
She had stared at Richard and said one sentence.
“One day Lucas will learn what you made him inherit.”
Lucas whispered.
“What did she know?”
Richard stepped toward him.
“You will not contact Amanda.”
Lucas held his father’s stare.
Then his phone vibrated.
A new email appeared.
The sender was Amanda Cole.
May you like
The subject contained four words.
YOU NEED THE TRUTH.
