Everyone Laughed at the Single Father at the Reunion—Then a Billionaire Crossed the Room for Him
Chapter 7
They left the reunion immediately.
Nathaniel took Thomas and Clara to his estate.
Thomas had never seen anything like it.
The mansion stood above the river with tall white columns and dozens of windows.
Servants moved quietly through the halls.
Clara stared at everything.
“Papa, does he own all this?”
Thomas smiled.
“Apparently.”
Nathaniel overheard.
“Not all of it.”
Thomas raised an eyebrow.
“Most of it?”
Nathaniel laughed.
“Perhaps.”
They sat in the library.
Nathaniel spread Margaret’s papers across the table.
He studied every page.
“There is a pattern.”
“What?”
“These transactions occurred before my father’s death.”
Thomas leaned closer.
“The farms?”
“Not only farms.”
Nathaniel pointed.
“Warehouses. Mills. River rights.”
Thomas frowned.
“River rights?”
Vale had been acquiring access to the river.
If he controlled the mills and waterways, he could control nearly every farm in the valley.
Margaret had discovered the scheme.
She had hidden the records.
Then she died.
Thomas clenched his fists.
Nathaniel noticed.
“Thomas.”
“What?”
“You cannot change what happened.”
“I know.”
“But you can decide what happens next.”
Thomas looked at him.
For the first time, he understood why Margaret had trusted this man.
Nathaniel wasn’t simply wealthy.
He carried responsibility like a weight.
That evening, Clara fell asleep beside the library fire.
Thomas covered her with a blanket.
Nathaniel stood by the window.
“She looks like Margaret.”
Thomas nodded.
“Every day.”
“She was brave.”
“She was terrified.”
Nathaniel looked at him.
“Bravery doesn’t mean being without fear.”
Thomas smiled sadly.
“No.”
“It means refusing to let fear decide.”
Thomas looked toward his daughter.
“I don’t know if I’m brave.”
Nathaniel answered:
“You came to that reunion knowing everyone would laugh at you.”
Thomas smiled.
“I nearly didn’t.”
“Yet you came.”
“For Clara.”
Nathaniel nodded.
“That is often where courage begins.”
Then a servant entered.
“Mr. Blackwood.”
“Yes?”
“There is a fire at the east barn.”
Nathaniel ran.
Thomas followed.
Flames were already rising.
Inside the barn were Nathaniel’s business records.
Someone had set the fire deliberately.
Thomas rushed toward the flames.
Nathaniel grabbed him.
“Don’t!”
Thomas pointed.
“My wife’s papers!”
They were inside.
The same box from the mill.
Nathaniel released him.
Thomas ran into the smoke.
