Chapter 6 - PROTECTED FROM HIS OWN LIFE
Alexander listened to the recording until the final click.
Nobody spoke.
Then he threw the glass in his hand across the study.
It shattered against the fireplace.
Alexander instantly regretted it.
He crouched.
"Sorry."
That hurt.
Good, he thought.
Let it hurt.
He could not demand trust from a child who had spent years learning powerful adults were dangerous.
Hannah examined Lucia's files.
Victor had created a private agreement with Charles Ashford twelve years earlier.
The Ashfords would provide financing and political support to Sterling Holdings.
In exchange, their families would eventually join through marriage.
"If you refused?" Alexander asked.
Hannah read the clause.
"Certain debt instruments could be activated."
"The loan."
"Maybe a later version."
Martin admitted he had known part of it.
"Victor told me it was succession planning."
"You let Charles use my electronic signature."
Martin's face fell.
"I thought you knew."
"You're suspended."
"Alexander—"
"Leave."
When Martin was gone, Sofia climbed onto the study chair.
"My mom said Grandpa was scared of you."
"Why?"
"Because you didn't like mean people."
A strange laugh escaped him.
Lucia had written Sofia letters for every birthday.
On her sixth:
Your father once walked out of a board dinner because his father insulted a waiter. He doesn't know you're alive, but I still believe there is good in him.
Alexander could barely read the next line.
One day, if it is safe, I will tell him.
But Lucia died before she could.
Her death certificate said heart failure after viral pneumonia.
"Who signed this?"
Dr. Peter Ashford.
Veronica's uncle.
Maria whispered, "Lucia wasn't sick."
"What?"
"She collapsed after meeting someone from Sterling Holdings."
Alexander's skin went cold.
"Who?"
"She never told me."
Then Sofia quietly opened the wooden box and lifted out a photograph.
"My mom kept this hidden under the bottom."
The picture showed Lucia outside a restaurant three days before her death.
She was arguing with a man.
Alexander knew him immediately.
May you like
Martin Vale.
His CFO.
