My Father-In-Law Gave Me A 40-Page File And 3 Days To Resign — Then I Checked The Letterhead…
Chapter 3
Daniel drove home faster than he had in years.
Claire was waiting in the living room.
She looked pale.
“What happened?”
She handed him a document.
“My father gave me this.”
Daniel opened it.
It was a legal agreement.
Not a resignation.
A succession agreement.
The document transferred control of several Hale Industries subsidiaries to Claire.
But only if Daniel resigned.
He looked up.
“What’s this?”
“I don’t know.”
“You signed this?”
“No.”
“My father did.”
Daniel read the second page.
A clause stood out.
Upon the resignation of Daniel Brooks, all litigation exposure associated with the Brooks family shall cease.
Daniel stared.
“What’s Brooks family exposure?”
Claire shook her head.
“That’s what I asked my father.”
“What did he say?”
“He told me you were in danger.”
Daniel sat.
“And you?”
“I believed him.”
He looked at her.
“For how long?”
She didn’t answer.
“Claire.”
“I’ve been investigating.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“You’ve been investigating your father?”
“For six months.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I didn’t know who I could trust.”
He almost laughed.
“That’s becoming a common theme.”
She sat beside him.
“I found money.”
“How much?”
“$86 million.”
Daniel went still.
“Where?”
“Moving through subsidiaries.”
“Whose account?”
“Not ours.”
“Then whose?”
Claire hesitated.
“Your father-in-law’s private trust.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Richard?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe that’s why he wants me gone.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Daniel handed her the forty-page file.
She read the first pages.
Then her face changed.
“This letterhead.”
“You recognize it.”
“My mother used it.”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
“She had a private legal office before she died.”
“Why would her letterhead be used now?”
“I don’t know.”
He pointed to the printer code.
“That code came from your father’s office.”
Claire looked at him.
“Then whoever created this wants us to think my father made it.”
Daniel nodded.
She turned another page.
Then stopped.
“Daniel.”
“What?”
“This name.”
She pointed.
Jonathan Pierce.
Daniel recognized it.
Chief financial officer.
The man who had recruited Claire.
The man who had supported Daniel’s promotion.
The man who had access to almost every financial record.
“What’s wrong with him?”
Claire lowered her voice.
“I caught him lying to the board.”
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
“Why didn’t you report him?”
“I tried.”
“What happened?”
“My father stopped me.”
Daniel stared.
“Why?”
“He said Jonathan was useful.”
“Useful?”
“Yes.”
Silence.
Daniel looked at the file again.
“Your father knew.”
“Maybe.”
“And he wants me to resign.”
Claire looked at him.
“Maybe he’s not trying to destroy you.”
Daniel nodded.
“Maybe he’s trying to keep you alive.”
A car stopped outside.
Both turned toward the window.
Black sedan.
The same one that had been parked outside Daniel’s office earlier.
Claire went pale.
“They found us.”
Daniel stood.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
The lights in the house flickered.
Then went out.
Claire grabbed his arm.
A crash came from upstairs.
Daniel looked toward the staircase.
“We’re not alone.”
They moved silently.
The bedroom door was open.
Nothing had been stolen.
But the forty-page file was gone.
Daniel’s blood ran cold.
Whoever broke in hadn’t come for money.
They came for the file.
And that meant the file wasn’t meant to destroy Daniel.
It was meant to expose something.
Something someone was desperate to keep hidden.
