56. Chapter Fifty-Six
Chapter Fifty-Six
Dacre
I’ve gone through my life with this vague purposelessness. But now I know exactly what I want and what I have to do to get it.
“Hello, Grandfather.” I open the door to his office without a knock.
“Dacre, what a pleasure.” His voice is steel, but he stands to greet me. “Come to beg for forgiveness for your scent-match?”
There’s a fresh bowl of walnuts on the desk and new white hydrangeas. Poetic. He knew I was coming.
“Not quite.” I motion to the whiskey on the desk. “May I?”
He nods in agreement, and I pour him a glass first, then myself.
The glass rests coolly on my lips as I let the liquid slide down, and I examine the window behind him. Yellow and orange leaves drift into the air as we marinate in the silence.
This is the last moment I have with him before everything changes. Is there something I should say? Thanks for locking me up for five days? Or thanks for harassing my sister and using her as leverage to manipulate me?
No. Fuck that.
“The only one begging will be you, I’m afraid.” I pull a folder from my jacket and place it on the desk.
“What am I looking at?” he says, just before his eyes widen at the first page.
I hide my satisfied smile with another sip.
“While you were busy running around taking advantage of those less fortunate than you, I was taking notes. I know all the ways you fudged the numbers in your business. Bad deals. Things I think our business partners won’t be happy to learn about.
” Courtesy of my brother Daniel. I tap on the desk as a signal, and my brother enters the office behind me.
Daniel strolls in and straightens his jacket. “Hello again, Grandfather. Terrible day for a family reunion.”
My grandfather ignores him, eyes scanning each page thoroughly.
“That’s nothing. Simple booking errors,” he says.
There’s a challenge in his eyes, specifically for me, as he waits for me to continue. I’m playing his game and he’s calling my bluff.
“Check the next page. Does Matthew Bromen ring a bell for you? What about Cassandra Elliot? Or Ferris Cameron?”
He reads the pages in silence, and slowly, that faraway look cracks. His brow dips, and then he slides a nervous thumb over his chin.
“The Donor Program wasn’t happy to hear about it this morning. The president didn’t believe me, but he knew I was serious when I took a jet to see him.”
That’s the one sore spot he never thought I’d hit. I see the wheels turning in his head as he goes through each scenario. There is no exit this time.
“You’re bluffing.” The impressed enthusiasm sours into a frown.
“Look out the window.”
In the window behind him, I see a few flashing lights, and can hear the cars pulling up now, which means he can too.
“The authorities were pleased when I provided the evidence that helped revive Matthew’s cold case this morning, enough to make you their number one suspect.”
He scoffs, but the impressed smirk returns to his lips. “Do you think this is enough? You should be sure before you threaten people.”
“Oh, I know. Don’t worry. You’ve taught me well.
I know you’re going to get away with it.
Even with the evidence against you, you have enough money to get a reduced sentence, if convicted.
But knowing you, you’ll deny it to the bitter end or take a plea deal.
You’ll probably pull some strings and get out for miraculously good behavior.
But before they take you to prison to start that process, I suggest you transfer your rights to the company.
You know, with the bad press that the court filings will bring, it’s the only thing that will keep the Everhart name in good standing.
Isn’t that what you really care about? What you’ve always cared about? ”
He flips through the files, searching for an out. But this time, I have him cornered in three ways. A man who has spent his whole life building up his legacy must now sacrifice it for the chance that the Everhart name stays clean.
“I never thought this day would come.” He downs his glass of whiskey. “I’ll admit I didn’t think it would be you. I thought for sure your sister would be the one.”
“She’s here too. The lawyers are staying with my estate, so you’ll need to find your own. I’ll be taking over and splitting up the estate between Daniel, Florence, and me. I’ll work something out with John and Uncle.”
They’re waiting just outside in the culinary lounge. By now, the news about the authorities has spread across campus with crowds waiting outside on the lawn with their phones ready to catch a glimpse at the source of such a spectacle.
A wide smile stretches across his face. “I was right. You are the true heir. Many advised me to choose John or your brother here, but they never had what you have: the strength to stand in front of another man and threaten him. Do you remember what you said to me on your thirteenth birthday?”
“Don’t let him fuck with you,” Daniel warns beside me.
His hand rests reassuringly on my shoulder.
“No.” I don’t remember much about any of my birthdays.
“You were helping me prepare dinner for the party, but you’d been quiet all day.
When I finally asked you what was wrong, you turned to me holding a knife in your hand, and told me that if I didn’t treat your little sister with respect, you would cut me down.
I was so shocked at first, then so unbelievably proud.
That’s the kind of man you need to be to carry on the name.
That’s what my father taught me, and his father taught him.
I never saw it in my own children, no matter how hard I pushed them.
But that day in the kitchen, I knew. You have the darkness the Everhart name requires.
There are so many things I haven’t told you about our history.
I hoped you would be ready one day. Perhaps it’s time—”
His brows draw together just as the door cracks open and Florence and my lawyers walk in, along with Marjorie. I told Florence she was only allowed to come in if she promised to keep herself contained.
“Hello, Clyde.” Florence struts in with her mousy brown hair bouncing in a ponytail and beams. “You look like you’ve had better days.”
I sigh, giving Florence a warning look.
“The authorities are here, sir,” Marjorie says. “They seem to be waiting on the lawn for you.”
“You can thank me for that. Out of the kindness of my heart, I spared you the dignity of being dragged from your office.”
It’s more than he ever afforded any of the lives he ruined.
“I wouldn’t speak another word if I were you. I may not be able to prove it now, but I know what you did to my parents.”
By now the potion should be working. I gave a hefty dose.
“You’re going to sign this contract right now, or I promise that I will dig into every corner of Vviveren and find the evidence to connect you to my parents’ death and make sure you stay locked away. Do you want to gamble that you didn’t slip up somewhere?”
His cold eyes drift toward me. “I’ll be down in a moment after I sign some paperwork.”
He grabs a pen from his cup holder, clicking the end.
“I take it that there’s some paperwork in here absolving your girlfriend of our little contract?”
“Page 7. I’ll be checking signatures, so make them nice.”
“I’ll be sure to send a wedding gift. You two are cute together.”
He motions to the lawyers, and they wait for my signal to start the paperwork.
“You can deflect all you want. I know who you are now.”
“You didn’t tell your brothers or sister. Why?”
I will once I have enough evidence and when the time is right. It will all be easier once he’s locked up and out of our lives.
“We’re not your concern anymore.”
“What are we doing after this?” Florence tugs on my arm. “Can you take me to see Emma? I want to see your room.”
“Your brother Daniel told me about the threat you made against him when I reached out, searching for your sister. You’re more like me than your father. Remember that.”
We all watch as he reads swiftly through each set of papers and signs.
I did threaten Daniel with a lot more than money if he were to betray me and take my sister somewhere I couldn’t find her. And that’s the difference my grandfather can’t see; it’s not about the money or the legacy. Just the people I love and have to protect.
Nothing he did was for anyone else. It was always for himself.
“You’re wrong about me.”
“We’ll go if you can’t keep it together,” I whisper to my sister, when she shakes me for an answer.
“I didn’t even mention any of his wrinkles.”
“Want a medal?” I joke.
Once he’s done, it’s our turn to sign in the midst of our lawyers.
My grandfather keeps his calm stoic expression.
I keep waiting for him to say something.
To tell me I forgot a crucial detail that turns this whole thing back in his favor.
But I’ve been waiting my whole life for this moment. I’ve got him right where I want him.
“I’m free today if either of you wants to invite me,” Daniel says, sheepishly.
My sister and I look at each other and smile.
Florence smiles. “I’ll give you one more chance, since you didn’t kidnap me this weekend.”
“Kidnap you? I spent a fortune on games to keep you entertained and fed all weekend.”
“As you should. That’s the least you can do for forgetting all my birthdays.”
“She has a point,” I say, turning to Daniel.
“You owe me some gifts,” Florence says.
“Fine. I’ll take you shopping in the city.”
“Only if Dacre comes.”
“Dacre.” My grandfather’s voice catches my attention as I sign the last of the documents, and he stands. “I will be watching. Expect information from me in the coming months about the incident you’re referring to.”
“I’ll be here when you get out, doing more with the estate than you ever would have. I’ll be sure to let Liam know his services will no longer be needed with the Everhart family.”
I watch as my grandfather slowly makes his way out of the office, through the culinary lounge, and out of the castle, where the police are waiting. I even invited a few reporters to get a few good pictures of them hauling him into the cop car.
“I’ll be ready for whatever you plan,” I say one last time.
“I’d expect nothing less from the true heir of the Everhart estate.”