WHO FIRED HIM?” THE CEO DEMANDED—NO ONE KNEW THE QUIET SINGLE DAD WAS WORTH BILLIONS!
Chapter 6
The next morning, three black SUVs appeared outside David’s home.
Emma looked through the window.
“Daddy, who are those people?”
David smiled.
“Friends.”
“They don’t look friendly.”
“They aren’t.”
Emma frowned.
David knelt beside her.
“Listen carefully.”
“What?”
“If I tell you to go with Ms. Miller, you do exactly what she says.”
“Who’s Ms. Miller?”
“A friend.”
Emma looked worried.
“Are you in trouble?”
David hugged her.
“No.”
He kissed her forehead.
“I’m protecting you.”
Meanwhile, Victoria arrived at Harrington Global.
She found Lawson waiting in her office.
He looked nervous.
“Where were you?”
“Meeting with investors.”
“Which investors?”
Lawson hesitated.
“Private ones.”
Victoria closed the door.
“Tell me about Jonathan.”
Lawson went pale.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Victoria placed a photograph on the desk.
Jonathan Harrington.
Lawson stared.
“He’s been dead for thirty years.”
“No.”
Victoria leaned closer.
“He’s alive.”
Lawson stood.
“I should leave.”
“You’re not leaving.”
Security entered.
Lawson was escorted away.
Under interrogation, he eventually confessed.
Jonathan had recruited him two years earlier.
The plan was simple.
Manipulate the acquisition.
Create hidden liabilities.
Cause a market collapse.
Force Victoria to resign.
Then Jonathan would use the family trust to acquire controlling interest.
But Lawson didn’t know one thing.
Jonathan had another target.
David Carter.
Victoria asked:
“Why?”
Lawson laughed nervously.
“Because he recognized the fraud.”
“Who is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“You worked with him.”
“I never met him.”
Victoria frowned.
“Then how did he communicate?”
“Through a man named Marcus.”
“Who is Marcus?”
Lawson shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
David entered.
Lawson looked at him.
For the first time, his expression showed genuine fear.
“You.”
David stared.
Lawson whispered:
“You’re Carter.”
Victoria looked between them.
“You know him?”
“No.”
Lawson laughed.
“He knows exactly who you are.”
David said nothing.
Lawson continued.
“You ruined his plans years ago.”
David finally spoke.
“Jonathan?”
Lawson nodded.
David remembered.
A failed acquisition from seven years earlier.
David had stopped a company from being stripped of its assets.
The buyer had been an anonymous investment group.
Jonathan had been behind it.
David had never known his name.
Now everything made sense.
Jonathan hadn’t discovered David recently.
He had been watching him for years.
Victoria asked:
“Why did you fire him?”
Lawson looked at David.
“Because Jonathan told me to.”
“Why?”
“Because David had found the hidden subsidiary.”
Victoria stepped closer.
“Where is Jonathan?”
Lawson smiled.
“I don’t know.”
David looked at him.
“You do.”
Lawson’s smile disappeared.
“You’re not as harmless as you look.”
David leaned forward.
“Where is he?”
Lawson finally broke.
“His private residence.”
“Where?”
He gave an address.
David immediately recognized it.
An old estate outside the city.
But there was a problem.
The property belonged to someone else.
Victoria looked at the ownership records.
Her face went pale.
It belonged to her father.
David understood.
Jonathan hadn’t just been using the family trust.
He had been living in the family’s hidden estate.
And someone had been helping him.
Victoria asked:
“Who?”
Lawson shook his head.
“Your father.”
Victoria stared.
“My father?”
“He never wanted you to inherit the company.”
Victoria felt betrayed.
Her father had spent decades preparing her to lead Harrington Global.
Now she realized the truth.
He had been preparing her to protect Jonathan.
David placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Don’t go alone.”
Victoria looked at him.
“You’re coming?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
David looked toward the window.
“Because he threatened my daughter.”
Then he added:
“And because this ends tonight.”
