Chapter 8 - The Uncle at the Table
Richard Caldwell arrived at the emergency board meeting smiling.
That smile lasted exactly four minutes.
Ethan sat at the head of the table.
Twelve directors filled the room.
Victoria’s father joined by video.
Richard took the chair beside Ethan.
“You look tired.”
Ethan opened a folder.
“I’ve had an interesting twenty-four hours.”
Richard adjusted his cuff links.
“I’m sure emotions are running high.”
Ethan looked at him.
“That sounds like something a guilty man says before evidence is presented.”
The room became silent.
Richard’s smile disappeared.
Ethan displayed the forged development agreement.
“Who authorized this?”
Richard barely glanced at it.
“The executive office.”
“My signature was forged.”
Charles Haynes spoke from the screen.
“That is an extremely serious accusation.”
“Yes.”
Ethan turned toward him.
“It is.”
Richard folded his hands.
“Perhaps you signed something you don’t remember.”
“I remember documents involving two billion dollars.”
Several directors shifted uncomfortably.
Ethan displayed the photographs.
Richard with Charles.
Richard with Victoria.
Victoria holding Lily’s photograph.
Richard’s face changed.
“You had me followed?”
“No.”
Ethan leaned back.
“Victoria did.”
The irony landed perfectly.
Richard looked toward the screen.
Charles Haynes remained motionless.
Ethan continued.
“You knew Lily might be my daughter.”
Richard sighed.
“We suspected.”
“For six months.”
“We were not certain.”
“And you said nothing.”
“It wasn’t our place.”
Ethan’s restraint cracked.
“You planned my marriage around a secret child and decided it wasn’t your place to tell me?”
Richard lowered his voice.
“We were protecting you.”
Ethan laughed once.
The sound contained no humor.
“There’s that word again.”
Richard leaned forward.
“You were about to marry into one of the most powerful families in the country.”
“And?”
“A scandal involving a housekeeper’s child could have ruined the partnership.”
Ethan’s expression turned icy.
“She has a name.”
Richard paused.
“Rosa.”
“My daughter has a name too.”
Richard looked away.
That was enough.
Ethan requested an immediate internal investigation.
Richard countered with a motion questioning Ethan’s judgment because of what he called an undisclosed personal conflict.
The room erupted.
For thirty minutes, directors argued.
Then a vote was called.
Ethan expected Richard to lose.
He was wrong.
Five directors supported Richard.
Five supported Ethan.
Two abstained.
The company was divided.
Richard stood.
“Until this matter is investigated, you should temporarily step back.”
Ethan stared at him.
“You knew exactly how many votes you had.”
Richard said nothing.
That silence was an admission.
Then Ethan’s phone rang.
Rosa.
He answered immediately.
“Rosa?”
Her breathing sounded frantic.
“Ethan, Lily is gone.”
He stood so quickly his chair struck the wall.
“What?”
“I turned around for two minutes.”
Rosa was crying now.
“She was in the library.”
“Security is searching.”
“I can’t find her.”
Ethan forgot the board.
He forgot Richard.
He forgot billions of dollars.
He ran.
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Because somewhere inside a sixteen-bedroom mansion filled with people who had already treated his daughter like leverage...
Lily had disappeared.
