Chapter 14 - The Man Waiting for My Chair

Todd smiled when I approached him.

Too quickly.

"Rough morning," he said.

"Did my mother promise you my job?"

The smile vanished.

People nearby suddenly found reasons to stare at their screens.

"Chris, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Six weeks ago. The Beaumont Hotel. Private dining room."

His face told me before his mouth did.

He knew.

"That wasn't what you think."

"Then tell me what it was."

Todd closed his office door.

For ten minutes he tried to soften it.

Mom was worried about leadership continuity.

Mom thought I was distracted.

Mom believed the company needed protection if my personal life "became messy."

Finally, I cut him off.

"Did she offer you my position?"

He looked away. "Yes."

"And you didn't tell me."

"I didn't accept."

"You didn't warn me either."

He had no answer.

I placed him on administrative leave pending the audit.

By lunchtime, the building was buzzing.

By two, Mom had sent an email to several employees claiming I was firing loyal staff because Savannah was manipulating me.

By three, the board's outside counsel instructed her to stop contacting employees about the investigation.

At four-ten, Savannah called.

Her voice was shaking.

"Chris, don't panic."

I stood up so fast my chair rolled backward.

"What happened?"

"I'm at the house. Maria is with me. Someone left a box on the porch."

"Don't touch it."

"We didn't. Police are coming."

I drove home with my heart in my throat.

The box was ordinary brown cardboard.

Inside were copies of Savannah's counseling records.

Private records.

Some pages were real. Some had handwritten comments added in the margins calling her unstable, manipulative, dangerous.

There was also a printed photo of our ultrasound.

Across the baby's face, someone had written:

YOU ARE BRINGING A CHILD INTO A BROKEN HOME.

Savannah started crying when she saw it.

The detective bagged everything.

"This is escalating," he said.

"Do you think my mother sent it?"

"I think we follow evidence."

Then he held up the shipping label.

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The return address wasn't Mom's.

It belonged to Todd Vance.