Chapter 11 - THE OFFICE THEY THOUGHT I HAD LOST
I arrived at the company just after nine in the morning, carrying the same black handbag I had carried almost every day for the last fifteen years. It was strange how ordinary everything looked. The glass doors still opened automatically when I approached. The marble floor still reflected the enormous silver logo above the reception desk. The faint smell of coffee still drifted from the employee lounge, and somewhere upstairs, phones were ringing and assistants were rushing between offices just as they had when Scott and I were struggling to keep the company alive. Nothing about the building had changed. Yet I had changed completely. Yesterday, I had walked out of my husband's house in the freezing rain with our feverish eight-month-old daughter in my arms, carrying an old brown suitcase that Scott believed contained nothing but worthless clothes. Today, that same suitcase had given me documents proving that I owned fifty-one percent of the company, evidence that my husband had forged my signature, and enough information to threaten everything he had spent fifteen years building behind my back. I had spent one night feeling like a woman who had lost everything. Now, standing beneath the company logo, I realized something much more dangerous for Scott. I had finally remembered what was mine.
The receptionist looked up when I approached.
“Mrs. Carter?”
I nodded.
Her expression became nervous.
“Mr. Scott said you weren't allowed upstairs.”
I looked at the elevator behind her.
“Mr. Scott doesn't decide where I can go.”
I pressed the elevator button.
Nobody stopped me.
The doors opened, and I stepped inside.
For fifteen years, I had ridden that elevator beside Scott while we discussed payroll, contracts, employees, investors, and the future. I remembered the first time we stood inside it together after the company moved out of our garage. Scott had wrapped his arm around my waist and told me that one day we would fill the entire building.
I had believed him.
I had believed everything.
The elevator doors opened onto the executive floor.
Scott's assistant immediately stood.
“Diane, you can't be here.”
I walked past her.
She followed me.
“Mr. Scott is in a meeting.”
“I know.”
I opened the door to Scott's office.
He was sitting behind my old desk.
Vanessa stood beside him.
Daniel Mercer was near the window.
And sitting across from them was the man whose face I had seen in the photograph the night before.
Scott's father.
The man who was supposed to have died fifteen years ago.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Scott stood so quickly that his chair rolled backward.
“Diane.”
I looked directly at the older man.
“You're supposed to be dead.”
The man's expression didn't change.
“That was the idea.”
A cold sensation moved through my chest.
Scott stepped between us.
“You shouldn't have come here.”
I placed the original incorporation agreement on his desk.
“Actually, Scott, this is my company.”
He stared at the document.
Then at me.
“You don't own this company anymore.”
I opened the agreement.
“Fifty-one percent.”
His face changed.
Vanessa stepped closer.
“That's impossible.”
I looked at her.
“No.”
I tapped the page.
“This is what's impossible.”
I opened another folder.
“Your version.”
Then I placed it beside the original.
“Mine.”
Daniel's face had gone pale.
Scott looked at him.
“Do something.”
Daniel didn't move.
I smiled.
“Don't worry, Daniel.”
He looked at me.
“I already know what you did.”
His lips parted.
“You forged my signature.”
Nobody answered.
I placed the flash drive on the desk.
“And I have your voices discussing it.”
Scott's eyes immediately dropped to the drive.
That was all the confirmation I needed.
He knew exactly what was on it.
“You're bluffing.”
“No.”
I leaned closer.
“For the first time in fifteen years, I'm not.”
The older man finally spoke.
“You have no idea what you're involved in.”
I turned toward him.
“Then explain it.”
He smiled faintly.
“You're still asking questions you shouldn't ask.”
I looked at him.
“And you're still hiding behind people who are willing to lie for you.”
Scott's jaw tightened.
“Give us the drive.”
“No.”
“Diane.”
“No.”
I picked up my handbag.
“The company sale is frozen.”
Scott's face went white.
“The board has received the original ownership agreement.”
Vanessa looked at Daniel.
Daniel lowered his eyes.
I walked toward the door.
Then I stopped.
“You spent fifteen years trying to make me believe I was nothing.”
I looked back at Scott.
“Now you're going to watch me take everything back.”
I walked out.
Behind me, I heard Scott's father make a phone call.
His voice was quiet.
But I heard the words clearly.
“Find the child.”
I stopped in the hallway.
My blood ran cold.
May you like
Because I knew exactly which child he meant.
Lily.
