CHAPTER 15
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Liam didn't say a word to Emma, the next day at the office.
He would not be like the others, trying to embarrass her.
All the night before he thought about her and how to help her without offending her.
Bonus and salary increase were the best ideas he could come up with. In fact, she'd already asked HR for them and if Emma, with that brutal honesty that was coming at her, would tell her that it was up to HR that they adjusted her salary.
He still had a lot of questions, but now was not the time.
He had a lot of work to do and an urgent meeting with William that wasn't even on the agenda so as not to raise suspicions.
The intercom rang.
“Lawyer Sanders is already here,” Emma's professional voice on the other end.
Liam decided to follow suit. This was no time for inappropriate ideas.
“Send him in,” he ordered, pressing the button, but feeling apprehensive because he knew she was yards away from him.
William Sanders entered at once carrying the briefcase and a friendly smile on his face, denoting his good humor.
“A secret meeting that wasn't even on the agenda, no doubt I must be very important to you,” joked the lawyer, sitting down.
“And you will be if we achieve what I'm going to propose,” Liam went to the point. “I'm going to break off the stupid engagement with Anna Foreman”
That revelation threw the lawyer off balance.
“I beg your pardon, did I hear that right?, because I fail to see what use my legal advice would be to you in a private matter,” William waved his ear, ”Moreover, you're going to get yourself in trouble with her father, who, if you've forgotten, is the other majority monster in this company”
Liam laughed sideways.
“I'm just looking for him to no longer be the other majority monster, do you understand me now or do you need me to draw him for you?”
William's face became serious.
“You're not kidding...”
Liam got up and stood by the window. Hands in his pocket.
“You knew I've always wanted to control this company, first as CEO and then as someone who didn't depend on other partners to dictate what I should do. I want my company completely, and it's up to you to find me a strategy”
“You're a wild boy...that's why you want to get rid of Michael and of course his daughter. Whatever you say will be done, but I still don't understand why you want to make a coup so soon”
Liam always wanted absolute power in the company. But he was desperate to get rid of Anna so he wanted to move his plans forward.
He never could stand her, but the contempt had grown in the last few weeks and he needed to be alone. No one to see him with her.
But he wasn't going to tell William that, he'd rather he thought him a greedy schemer.
The lawyer nodded.
“We've got a busy week ahead of us. You'd better let your secretary know that we'll be working a lot of overtime,” he warned.
“Don't worry about her, you already know her and you know she's very capable”
That last comment was very noticeable to the lawyer, since Liam never complimented anyone, even if they deserved it.
He reached for something from his briefcase.
“I think it's time to pull out the calculator, you're going to have to pull out all your resources if you want to steal this company”
“I've been preparing for this ever since I knew I wanted this company....”
Both men set to work on the next aggressive part of their business plan.
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Michael did not go to the office.
The detective had called him and told him that the investigation was ready, but that the information was extremely sensitive, that it was preferable to give it to him at home.
So Michael took the day off anyway, going to the office had been unbearable for him since Liam took over as executive director and was asking for reports from everyone. He even dug into the human resources section where Michael had located several of his allies and key informants.
The detective, a short, very thin man showed up in sweats, carrying a bag around his neck.
Michael deeply despised him, but he needed his services and the guy was quite efficient.
He received him in the office of his luxurious Park Avenue apartment.
As the little man unloaded several folders onto the table, Michael wondered what could be so voluminous that it needed to be secretly counted.
Maybe the star secretary embezzled money from her previous job?
The little man passed him an envelope.
Michael looked through them.
They were photographs, mostly showing a glimpse of a ten-year-old boy. In several places he was walking with a woman, perhaps a friend or relative of his mother, and in others with Emma Darby herself.
“What am I looking at?” asked Michael, bored and not understanding what good it would do him to see family photos of that woman.
"The little boy's name is Tanner Darby, he's ten years old, and he's the son of Emma, the woman you asked me to investigate”
“Bingo for the news... but I still don't understand why it's important to take so many pictures of him”
“Haven't you noticed, Mr. Foreman? Look at the photos of the boy closely”
Michael reluctantly did so. The little boy had an intensely familiar air about him, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
“That Miss Emma and Mr. Van Dyke were high school senior classmates when the gentleman in question spent a year in Cheyenne grounded for his misdeeds,” Michael raised his head at that. “I traveled to that town, tried to gather information, and learned that Emma's father and sister live there and are well-to-do officials”
But Michael, who was starting to get ideas, was no longer interested in hearing the rest of that little story.
“Keep talking about how they knew each other before!” he ordered.
“Ah, of course, that they were partners and that the child Tanner was born exactly nine months after Mr. Van Dyke's departure. They were not a couple, and Mr. Van Dyke seems to have no idea of this, so the conception of the little boy is a mystery, because I watched them....”
At that point, Michael got up and started pacing back and forth.
2So many coincidences got me thinking,” the detective continued. “So I did a DNA test on them...and you don't know what it took to get the samples. I had to follow that kid all over Central Park until he finally left an empty strawberry milkshake cup and then I picked it up...and I had to steal a cup from the CEO of the executive cafeteria. I had to disguise myself...”
“Silence!” Michael didn't need to hear any more details and analyzed the DNA document. The detective had the samples tested twice and at different labs, paying an exorbitant sum to buy discretion. It was unexpected news and Michael felt exposed with that news.
The fact that the little woman was a weapon to be taken and the truth was that she was now carrying the most powerful weapon against everyone: a bastard with Van Dyke blood.
Just thinking about it made his stomach twist, since his daughter Anna was even incapable of getting pregnant by Liam and winning some points. That worthless girl embarrassed him.
“I can assure you that Mr. Van Dyke is totally unaware of the secret of his parentage”
Michael threw himself back on the couch.
This revelation was horribly unexpected.
Many solutions came to his mind, from blackmail to a threat to this Emma, to get her and her son out of town. He would have to plan his moves carefully when he was in better condition, now he was too stunned by the scoop.
He gestured to the detective.
“Go away, I want to be alone”
The little man picked up his bag and wrapped it around his neck, but remained quiet in a corner.
Michael realized he wanted to collect his money.
These information mercenaries.
He opened one of his drawers and removed a wad of hundred dollar bills. He tossed it to the man who caught them with his eyes bright with the color of the money.
When he knew he was alone, he got up to get some port to drink. It was early, but he needed something strong to finish digesting what he heard.
He hadn't even finished draining the drink when the door opened and Michael didn't have to be very clever to know it was Anna's capriciousness.
“Father...” the young woman greeted him.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“You have to help me with something,” the girl sat down opposite her father.
Michael's eyes narrowed, but he gestured for the girl to speak.
“I think there's something strange with Liam. I'm afraid he'll leave me...and you always tell me if I have problems like that with him coming to you. Can you force him to be with me?”
Michael laughed sarcastically.
"That's your fault, you would have gotten pregnant a long time ago if you wanted to make sure, where are your brains? you're even ahead of the curve on that one".
“Do you know anything, father?”
Michael snorted, his gaze fixed on the glass in his hand.
“It's partly your fault...”
Anna's face lit up.
She was a little girl with no prowess of intelligence, with the sole attribute of being rich. Michael despised her for her dim lights. Had her mother not been self-righteous, he would have doubted her paternity.
But the little girl always sought Michael's approval, and that guaranteed the man his daughter's loyalty.
“But I want to help, Father.....”
Michael set his glass down on the bedside table, with some violence.
“Then make sure he doesn't leave you... until I come up with an idea, is that clear?”
And any idea he had always had to be conducive to the Foreman family taking control of Harlock Investment and he was going to use any formula that would lead him to victory, even marrying his own daughter to the enemy to neutralize him.
And now he had to add the unexpected detail of the existence of that bastard that he had to deal with before Liam found out.