PART 9
Brielle wiped her tears.
“What happened the night Dad died?”
Vivian looked at the floor.
“He confronted me.”
“And?”
“We argued.”
“About the money?”
“Yes.”
“Did you hurt him?”
Vivian’s head snapped up.
“No.”
Her answer came immediately.
Too quickly.
Harold stepped closer.
“Richard had already contacted me.”
Vivian looked at him.
“He told me he intended to expose the accounts.”
I looked at Harold.
“What happened after that?”
“Your father planned to meet me the following morning.”
“But he died that night.”
Harold nodded.
“That’s why I always suspected something was wrong.”
Corinne looked at Vivian.
“His medical report says he suffered a fatal cardiac event.”
Vivian nodded.
“He was under enormous stress.”
Corinne continued.
“It does not prove wrongdoing.”
Vivian’s shoulders relaxed slightly.
Then Corinne added:
“But it doesn’t explain why the documents were removed from his office afterward.”
Vivian looked up.
“What documents?”
“The ones you thought were destroyed.”
I looked at Corinne.
“You found them?”
She nodded.
“Your father had made digital copies.”
Harold smiled faintly.
“He always did.”
Corinne opened her laptop.
“Richard sent encrypted files to a private storage account three days before his death.”
Vivian’s face went white.
“That’s impossible.”
“It isn’t.”
Corinne turned the laptop toward me.
There were scans of bank records.
Contracts.
Emails.
And finally, a video file.
My heart stopped.
“What is that?”
“Your father.”
I couldn’t breathe.
Corinne pressed play.
The screen showed my father’s study.
He was sitting behind his desk.
He looked tired.
Older than I remembered.
But alive.
He looked directly into the camera.
“If you’re watching this,” he said, “then I wasn’t able to finish what I started.”
My hands began shaking.
Dad continued.
“Mallory, if this is you, I’m sorry.”
I covered my mouth.
“I should have protected you sooner.”
The video paused for a moment.
Then he continued.
“Your mother will probably tell you I was confused near the end. She may tell you I wanted you gone. That is not true.”
Tears rolled down my cheeks.
“You were the person I trusted most.”
I looked at Vivian.
She was crying now too.
But I couldn’t look away from the screen.
“Brielle, you were never second to your sister. Neither of you were. I loved you both.”
Brielle began sobbing.
“But I made a terrible mistake.”
My father’s voice became quieter.
“I thought I could fix everything without hurting the family.”
He looked down.
“I was wrong.”
Then he said the words that changed the room forever.
“Vivian has been moving money from the company.”
My mother closed her eyes.
“I confronted her.”
Dad continued.
“She told me she did it because she believed she deserved compensation for everything she had sacrificed.”
One Comment on “PART 9”