Chapter 6
Mark wanted to meet in a parking garage.
That alone told me he was scared.
Richard hated the idea.
Mom hated it more.
So we compromised.
Mark came to the estate.
He arrived wearing yesterday’s clothes.
His eyes were bloodshot.
He kept checking the driveway behind him.
Richard met him in the study.
Mark stopped at the doorway.
“I didn’t know she was your granddaughter.”
Richard’s expression remained cold.
“That doesn’t improve your situation.”
“I know.”
Mark looked at me.
“I’m sorry.”
I folded my arms.
“For what part?”
He flinched.
“All of it.”
“That’s a lot.”
“I know.”
Richard pointed toward a chair.
“Sit.”
Mark sat.
He pulled a flash drive from his pocket.
“I copied this before they locked me out of the system.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who locked you out?”
“Corporate.”
“When?”
“Three this morning.”
Richard’s eyes narrowed.
“I didn’t authorize that.”
“I figured.”
Mark put the drive on the desk.
“It has security footage from the dining room, hallway, office, and front entrance.”
“We already have the slap on video.”
“That isn’t why I brought it.”
I stared at him.
Mark swallowed.
“Linda arrived forty minutes before her reservation.”
“So?”
“She asked to speak to me privately.”
Richard leaned forward.
“About what?”
“You.”
He pointed at me.
I felt cold.
“But she didn’t know who I was.”
“She knew your name.”
Everything inside me stopped.
“What?”
Mark rubbed his face.
“She asked if Emma Carter was working.”
Mom stepped forward.
“How did she know my daughter’s name?”
“I don’t know.”
Richard’s voice became dangerous.
“Tell us exactly what happened.”
Mark took a breath.
“She came through the side entrance. Robert wasn’t with her yet. She said she needed a favor.”
“What favor?”
“She asked which section Emma was assigned.”
I felt sick.
“I wasn’t supposed to have her table.”
Mark shook his head.
“No.”
My mouth went dry.
I remembered that night.
Another server, Kayla, had asked me to switch because her son was sick and she needed to leave early.
Mark had approved it.
Or so I thought.
“Why did you put me there?”
“Linda asked.”
Mom moved toward him.
“You deliberately put my daughter at that woman’s table?”
Mark jumped to his feet.
“I didn’t know she was going to hit her.”
“Sit down,” Richard said.
Mark sat immediately.
I stared at him.
“What did she tell you?”
“She said she wanted to see how you handled pressure.”
“What does that mean?”
“I asked the same thing.”
“And?”
“She said you had been trying to get close to Mr. Bennett.”
Richard’s jaw tightened.
Mark continued.
“She said you were young and probably looking for attention. She told me not to give you special treatment.”
“I never asked for special treatment.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t know.”
My voice rose.
“You watched her insult me for twenty minutes.”
Mark looked down.
“I thought if I kept her happy, she’d leave.”
“So you made me absorb it.”
“Yes.”
The answer was so simple it hurt.
Mark looked ashamed.
“She told me to delay the steak.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
Mom said, “You’re lying.”
“I wish I was.”
He pointed at the flash drive.
“It’s on camera.”
Richard inserted the drive into his computer.
Mark guided him through the folders.
The video appeared.
Linda entered the restaurant at 6:43 p.m.
She looked perfectly calm.
No anger.
No stress.
She walked straight to Mark.
The footage had no audio at first.
Then he opened another file from the office camera.
Sound.
Linda’s voice filled the room.
“Is Emma Carter working tonight?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Put her on my table.”
“I think she’s assigned to the patio.”
“Move her.”
“Why?”
A pause.
Then Linda said, “I want to see something.”
The video continued.
Mark asked whether there was a problem.
Linda laughed.
“Hopefully not.”
Mom gripped the back of a chair.
Richard’s face had become unreadable.
Then Linda said something that made my stomach turn.
“Robert thinks she’s harmless. I don’t.”
Mark shifted awkwardly on the recording.
“She’s twenty-one.”
“So?”
“She’s a server.”
“For now.”
Linda leaned closer.
“If she gets emotional or disrespectful, document it.”
The video ended.
I stared at the screen.
She knew.
Before I carried one glass of water to her table, Linda knew exactly who I was.
The humiliation had not been random.
Neither had the delayed food.
Neither had the repeated complaints.
She had wanted me to fail.
Maybe she had even wanted me to react.
But why?
Mom answered before I asked.
“She wanted a reason to tell Richard you were unstable.”
Richard looked at her.
Mom pointed toward the fake medical report on his desk.
“Think about it.”
I understood.
“Grandpa is unstable. I’m disrespectful. Mom is greedy.”
Richard leaned back.
“A family of unreliable people.”
“Exactly.”
Mark stared between us.
“I didn’t know any of this.”
Mom snapped, “But you knew she was targeting Emma.”
“Yes.”
“And you helped.”
His eyes lowered.
“Yes.”
I wanted to scream at him.
Instead, I asked, “Why are you telling us now?”
Mark took out his phone.
“Because I got this.”
He handed it to me.
A text from an unknown number.
Delete all internal recordings from September 13.
Failure to comply may affect severance eligibility and future references.
Richard read it twice.
“Corporate didn’t send this.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because I called IT.”
Mark swallowed.
“They said nobody had requested deletion.”
Mom asked, “Did you recognize the number?”
“No.”
“But?”
Mark opened another screen.
“It’s linked to a prepaid phone.”
Richard frowned.
“That tells us nothing.”
“Except I heard Linda give that exact number to a hostess last month.”
My skin prickled.
“What for?”
“She was reserving a private room.”
Richard stood.
“Send everything to my attorney.”
Mark nodded.
Then he looked at me.
“I don’t expect you to forgive me.”
“Good.”
He flinched.
“But I am sorry.”
I believed him.
That was the worst part.
He was sorry now.
After the video went viral.
After Richard arrived.
After his own job was threatened.
Maybe he truly regretted it.
But people often became brave only when cowardice stopped being profitable.
Richard escorted Mark out.
Mom and I remained in the study.
I replayed Linda’s words.
Robert thinks she’s harmless. I don’t.
“Why would she care about me?”
Mom looked at me.
“Because Richard contacted you.”
“But I don’t want his money.”
“Linda doesn’t know that.”
“I told Grandpa I wouldn’t take anything.”
Mom’s expression changed.
“You did?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“What did he say?”
“He said he wanted a relationship, not a transaction.”
She looked away.
There was pain in her face.
Maybe because those were the words she had needed decades earlier.
When Richard returned, Mom asked the question.
“Did you change your estate plan?”
He stopped.
That was enough.
Mom closed her eyes.
“Richard.”
“I haven’t signed anything.”
“What were you planning?”
He looked at me.
I hated that.
“Don’t.”
“Emma—”
“Don’t make me part of this.”
“You already are.”
“No. Linda made me part of it.”
I stood.
“I don’t want your hotels. I don’t want your house. I don’t want Robert’s money. I want to graduate without owing forty thousand dollars.”
Richard almost smiled.
“I can fix that.”
“That wasn’t an invitation.”
Mom covered her mouth to hide a laugh.
For half a second, the tension broke.
Then Richard became serious.
“I was changing the trust.”
Mom stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because I realized the current structure gives Robert too much control.”
“How much?”
“Forty-five percent after my death.”
Mom sat down.
“And me?”
Richard looked ashamed.
“Nothing.”
I stared at him.
Mom didn’t react.
Maybe because she had expected it.
Richard continued.
“That document was signed twenty-two years ago.”
“After I left.”
“Yes.”
“And now?”
“I planned to divide the controlling interest equally between my children.”
Mom laughed bitterly.
“So I come back and suddenly Robert loses half his future.”
“That was not why I contacted Emma.”
“But it’s why he cares.”
Richard didn’t deny it.
I thought about Linda targeting me.
About the fake medical report.
About the emergency board meeting.
“This isn’t about the slap.”
Mom looked at me.
“It never was.”
My phone rang.
The college.
I answered.
A woman from student affairs asked if I could come in later.
“There have been inquiries about your financial aid records,” she said.
I froze.
“What kind of inquiries?”
“Someone contacted the university claiming you falsified information on your scholarship application.”
“That’s not true.”
“I know. We’re reviewing it.”
My mother heard enough to understand.
She stood.
“Who contacted you?”
The administrator hesitated.
“The complaint was anonymous.”
Of course it was.
I closed my eyes.
“Am I losing my scholarship?”
“Not at this time.”
Not at this time.
My heart pounded.
When I hung up, Richard was furious.
Mom was worse.
“They’re attacking her future.”
Richard grabbed his phone.
“I’ll call the university president.”
“No.”
Both of them looked at me.
“If you call, it proves exactly what Linda wants people to believe.”
Richard stopped.
“That I use your name to get special treatment.”
His hand lowered.
Mom nodded slowly.
I took a breath.
“I’ll handle school.”
Then Richard’s attorney called.
He answered on speaker.
“Richard, I’ve reviewed the medical document.”
“And?”
“It’s fake.”
We already knew that.
But the attorney continued.
“The signature belongs to a real neurologist.”
Mom frowned.
“So someone forged it?”
“Yes.”
“Can we prove who?”
“Possibly.”
Richard asked, “What else?”
The attorney hesitated.
“We have a bigger problem.”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
“Robert filed the competency motion with the board.”
Richard’s face hardened.
“And?”
“He attached an amendment to your family trust.”
Richard froze.
“I haven’t signed an amendment.”
“That’s why I’m calling.”
May you like
The attorney paused.
“The document bears your signature.”
