Chapter 9
Mark Dalton sat behind thick glass in a federal interview facility.
I watched him through the window before entering.
He was sixty now.
Silver hair.
Expensive posture.
The kind of man who looked composed even when his future was collapsing.
David stood beside me.
“You don’t have to do this.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Agent Chen will be present.”
“Good.”
“You answer nothing about company strategy.”
“I know.”
“And if he tries to provoke you—”
“He will.”
David nodded.
“Exactly.”
We entered.
Mark smiled when he saw me.
Not warmly.
Like a man admiring a chess piece that had finally reached the square he expected.
“Emily Harrison.”
“Mercer.”
“For now.”
I sat.
Agent Chen remained beside the wall.
Mark’s attorney was present too.
I looked at him.
“You asked to see me.”
“I did.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel failed.”
“No. Daniel got caught.”
“That too.”
His calmness made me want to throw something.
“You built this.”
“I built many things.”
“You sent him into my life.”
“Your mother-in-law was more enthusiastic about that part than I was.”
“Don’t deflect.”
Mark smiled.
“You have your father’s voice when you’re angry.”
“Do not talk about him like you knew him.”
“I knew him for decades.”
“You stole from him.”
“He stole first.”
I stared at him.
“What did my father steal?”
“My future.”
“Dramatic.”
“Accurate.”
“You committed fraud.”
“So did he.”
Agent Chen shifted slightly.
That caught everyone’s attention.
I leaned forward.
“Explain.”
Mark looked at his attorney.
His attorney nodded cautiously.
“Twenty-eight years ago,” Mark said, “Harrison Meridian was much smaller. Your father needed cash badly.”
“I know the company’s history.”
“Not all of it.”
“What are you claiming?”
“He manipulated financial statements to secure a credit line.”
I laughed once.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No. I expect you to verify it.”
“Why would Margaret be involved?”
“She found out.”
My smile vanished.
“She discovered discrepancies. Your father panicked.”
“Robert said she was suspected of stealing.”
“She was.”
I stared.
Mark smiled.
“Two things can be true.”
“What did she steal?”
“Money.”
“Why?”
“To pay me.”
My skin prickled.
“For what?”
“To keep quiet.”
Agent Chen spoke for the first time.
“You’re admitting extortion?”
Mark shrugged.
“I was twenty-two and stupid.”
“You were an intern,” I said.
“An observant intern.”
“So Margaret stole company money to pay you?”
“Partly.”
“Then Dad discovered it.”
“Yes.”
“And fired her.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t he fire you?”
“He didn’t know I was involved.”
“Until years later.”
“Correct.”
“When he caught you stealing again.”
Mark’s mouth tightened.
Robert’s version was true too.
At least parts.
“Why Daniel?”
“Margaret spent years blaming your father.”
“That doesn’t explain you.”
“Your father humiliated me twelve years ago.”
“Because you stole.”
“He destroyed my professional reputation within every serious company that mattered.”
“You did that yourself.”
Mark smiled thinly.
“Just like him.”
I ignored it.
“You hired Daniel.”
“Yes.”
“Knowing who his mother was.”
“Yes.”
“Did Daniel know why?”
“Eventually.”
“When did you decide to target me?”
“Target is such an ugly word.”
“Use whatever word helps you sleep in custody.”
His smile vanished.
“After your father blocked me from a major financing deal.”
“When?”
“About a year before Daniel met you.”
“So you wanted access.”
“I wanted leverage.”
“And Daniel agreed for money.”
“Yes.”
My stomach still twisted hearing it.
“Did he love me?”
Mark laughed.
I stood.
David touched my arm.
Mark said, “You really want my opinion?”
“No.”
But he answered anyway.
“Unfortunately, yes.”
I stopped.
“He was supposed to get close. Learn what you knew. Maybe gain access to documents. Nothing more.”
“Then?”
“He stopped reporting.”
“When?”
“Six months after he met you.”
I stared at him.
“Before we got engaged.”
“Yes.”
“He told me he was done.”
My throat tightened.
“Why?”
“You.”
I hated that the answer mattered.
“He said you trusted him. Said he couldn’t keep lying.”
“Yet he did.”
Mark shrugged.
“People are contradictions.”
“So you threatened him.”
“I reminded him there were consequences.”
“My father’s letter says Daniel had twenty-four hours to confess before Dad died.”
Mark’s expression changed.
Barely.
There.
A crack.
“You knew about that meeting,” I said.
“No.”
“Yes, you did.”
Mark leaned back.
“You’re guessing.”
“My father confronted him about you. Daniel kept the letter. Six years later, you contacted Daniel again.”
Mark said nothing.
“What did Daniel tell you after my father died?”
His attorney interrupted.
“My client won’t answer questions regarding events outside the scope of our proffer agreement.”
Agent Chen looked annoyed.
That meant I had hit something real.
I changed direction.
“Did you cause my father’s death?”
“No.”
Immediate.
Firm.
“Did Daniel?”
“No.”
“Did Margaret?”
“No.”
“Then why are you afraid of that night?”
“I’m not.”
“You reacted.”
Mark smiled again.
“Perhaps I was saddened by the memory.”
“You hated him.”
“Yes.”
“So don’t insult me.”
Silence.
Then Mark sighed.
“Richard called me that evening.”
My entire body froze.
“When?”
“After Daniel left.”
The security logs showed Dad called Robert and me.
But there could have been other phone records not visible from house logs if he used another line.
“What did he say?”
“He said it was over.”
“What was over?”
“The game.”
“Meaning?”
“He knew about Daniel. He knew how Daniel met you. He said if I contacted either of you again, he would reopen every financial crime he could connect to me.”
“What did you say?”
“I told him he was a hypocrite.”
“Because of the credit line?”
“Yes.”
“Anything else?”
Mark looked at me.
“I told him Margaret had kept evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“Old accounting records.”
“Did Dad know?”
“Not until then.”
“What happened?”
“He became angry.”
My heart pounded.
Dad had already shown chest pain during the argument with Daniel.
Then Mark called or received his call and provoked him further.
“Did you know about his heart condition?”
Mark’s silence lasted one second too long.
I felt rage explode inside me.
“You knew.”
“I knew he had medical issues.”
“And you still decided that was a good moment to threaten him.”
“I did not threaten his life.”
“You threatened his legacy.”
Mark’s eyes hardened.
“Yes.”
“What did you say?”
His attorney objected again.
Mark ignored him.
“I told Richard that if he exposed me, I would expose him.”
“Then?”
“He said he’d rather his daughter learn he made mistakes than let me keep using her.”
My eyes filled instantly.
That sounded exactly like Dad.
Truth even if it hurt.
Something Daniel had never been capable of.
Mark continued.
“Then he hung up.”
“And died.”
“Later.”
“You helped kill him.”
Agent Chen intervened.
“Emily.”
Mark leaned forward.
“No. His heart killed him.”
I wanted to reach across the table.
Instead, I stood.
“My father spent his last hours trying to protect me from people like you.”
Mark’s expression changed.
“For what it’s worth, I didn’t expect him to die.”
“It isn’t worth anything.”
I walked toward the door.
Then Mark said, “Daniel didn’t come back for money six months ago.”
I stopped.
“What?”
“He contacted me.”
I turned.
“Why?”
“Because he wanted help.”
“With what?”
“Leaving you.”
That hurt differently.
“Why?”
“He said the marriage was over.”
“Because I wouldn’t keep trying to get pregnant?”
“He talked about that.”
I hated him for knowing something so private.
“What did he want from you?”
“Money.”
“Of course.”
“He said he had spent ten years living in your shadow and had nothing in his own name.”
“He had a career.”
“He hated his career.”
“He could have changed it.”
“He wanted what you had.”
“There it is.”
Mark shrugged.
“I offered him a deal.”
“The company.”
“Yes.”
“Why involve Margaret?”
“She volunteered.”
I almost laughed.
“Of course she did.”
“And Ashley?”
Mark tilted his head.
“I never met her.”
“So Daniel really planned to start over with her.”
“He told me he did.”
“Did you buy the Belize tickets?”
“No.”
“Did Daniel?”
“As far as I know.”
“Why a fake passport with my photograph?”
Mark smiled faintly.
“That wasn’t my idea.”
“Whose?”
“Daniel’s.”
“For what?”
“He wanted to create evidence that you intended to leave the country.”
My mouth went dry.
“What?”
“If necessary.”
I stared.
“The abandonment claim.”
“Yes.”
“He was going to say I fled.”
“If the corporate authorization was challenged, your absence could have helped create uncertainty.”
“That fake passport was supposed to be used?”
“Possibly shown entering another jurisdiction. Possibly planted in records. Daniel was improvising.”
I felt nauseated.
He had planned to erase me from my own life.
Not physically.
Legally.
Financially.
Socially.
Paint me as unstable.
Absent.
Sick.
Gone.
Then take what remained.
“Why did he break into Ashley’s sister’s house?”
“He panicked.”
“You told him you wouldn’t pay.”
Mark’s smile disappeared.
“I froze the final payments when he failed to secure the board.”
“So he lost everything.”
“He lost what he never had.”
I looked at him.
“You sound proud.”
“I’m practical.”
“No. You’re empty.”
I left.
Outside, David caught up.
“You okay?”
“No.”
At least that answer was easy.
We drove back toward the hospital because Ashley was being discharged.
Halfway there, Agent Chen called.
“We found additional material on Daniel’s laptop.”
“What?”
“Video files.”
My skin chilled.
“What kind?”
“Recordings made inside your home.”
I stopped breathing.
“Security footage?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“Hidden-camera recordings.”
Every part of me went cold.
“Where?”
“Your office. Kitchen. Bedroom.”
I felt violated in a new way.
“How long?”
“Some files date back three years.”
Three years.
“Why?”
“We’re still determining that.”
Then she added, “There is one recording you should know about.”
“What?”
“It captures a conversation between Daniel and Margaret eight months ago.”
I waited.
Agent Chen said, “They were discussing Ashley’s pregnancy.”
My stomach tightened.
“What did they say?”
“Margaret asked whether the baby changed the plan.”
“And?”
“Daniel said yes.”
My hand shook.
“What plan?”
“He said, ‘I’m done waiting for Emily to die.’”
The car went silent.
David stared at me.
I could barely speak.
“What does that mean?”
“We don’t know.”
May you like
Then Agent Chen added the line that made everything worse.
“Margaret replied, ‘Then we do it through divorce instead.’”
