Chapter 5 - My Mother in the Garage
“No.”
The word came out of me like air leaving a punctured tire.
My father gripped the edge of the desk.
“I told you there were things you didn’t understand.”
I played the video again.
Emily.
My mother.
The argument.
The grab.
The slap.
Then both women disappeared out of frame.
Two minutes later, Emily’s car left the garage.
My mother remained.
That should have made me feel better.
It didn’t.
I went downstairs.
Margaret was sitting with Noah on the sofa. She had wrapped him in a blanket and was reading him a picture book with trembling hands.
“Mom.”
She looked up.
She knew from my face.
I handed Noah to Anna.
“Kitchen. Please.”
Anna took him without a word.
When they were gone, I showed my mother the paused image.
Her shoulders collapsed.
“It isn’t what you think.”
I almost shouted.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
Celeste sat in a nearby chair under guard, watching us like she had purchased front-row tickets.
My mother whispered, “Emily came to me that night because she discovered the Harbor Account.”
“What is it?”
“A hidden corporate fund.”
My father answered from behind me.
I turned.
He continued.
“Years ago, I used it to make illegal payments. Bribes. Regulators. Union officials. Politicians.”
I stared at him.
My father had built Cole Industries into a billion-dollar company and spent my childhood lecturing me about honesty.
“You’re telling me Emily found proof you were bribing people?”
“Yes.”
“And you confronted her?”
My mother shook her head.
“I begged her to wait twenty-four hours before going to the authorities. She thought I was protecting Richard.”
“Were you?”
“Yes.”
The honesty stunned me.
“But not only him,” she said. “I was protecting you.”
“Me?”
“You had just become CEO.”
“I didn’t know about the account.”
“The public wouldn’t care.”
Celeste tapped one fingernail against her champagne glass.
“No. They wouldn’t.”
I turned on her.
“You seem very comfortable.”
“I am.”
“Why?”
She leaned forward.
“Because your family still thinks the Harbor Account is the worst thing Emily found.”
My father’s face emptied.
Celeste smiled.
“She found something else.”
“What?”
“A list.”
“What list?”
“The people who were being paid weren’t the interesting part.”
She stood.
The guards moved.
She stopped.
“The interesting part was who was ordering the payments.”
My father whispered, “Celeste, don’t.”
She looked at me.
“Your father didn’t create the Harbor Account, Ethan.”
“Then who did?”
She nodded toward the front entrance.
Outside, police sirens began screaming up the driveway.
May you like
Celeste’s smile widened.
“My father.”
