Chapter 12 - Why Veronica Married My Father
Madison would not let go of my hand.
“I’m sorry about the dress.”
The words came out broken.
I looked at her.
“That’s not enough.”
“I know.”
“Why did you do it?”
Her eyes dropped.
“Because Mom told me you were getting everything.”
“What?”
I almost laughed.
“I don’t even want the company.”
“I know that now.”
“No, you knew me then.”
She cried harder.
That sentence hurt her because it was true.
Dad came in after the nurse allowed him.
He stopped beside the bed.
Madison looked terrified.
“I’m sorry, Dad.”
He stood there for several seconds.
Then pulled a chair close.
“We’ll deal with us later. First tell me what happened.”
Madison described the morning.
She demanded Madison take a flash drive from the office before leaving.
“I did it last week.”
Dad stared at her.
“What flash drive?”
“The black one in the locked desk.”
His face changed.
“That was company audit material.”
“I didn’t know.”
Madison pointed to the drive in my hand.
“I copied it before I gave it to her.”
Dad looked stunned.
“You copied it?”
“She always tells me not to ask questions. So I started asking them when she wasn’t around.”
For the first time that day, I saw a trace of the sister I remembered from childhood.
We opened the drive on Dad’s laptop.
Folders.
Contracts.
Wire transfers.
Then a file named V_PLAN.
Inside was a scanned email chain between Veronica and a private financial consultant.
The oldest email was dated two months before she “accidentally” met Dad at a charity event.
The message read:
Dad leaned back.
His face emptied.
Madison covered her mouth.
There was another email.
Make the younger girl emotionally dependent. Competition between sisters will isolate Claire.
I looked at Madison.
She looked at me.
Years of fights suddenly rearranged themselves.
Not excused.
Explained.
Dad scrolled down.
The final email was from three days earlier.
If Richard discovers the transfers, initiate exit plan. Passport, cash, offshore access. Use M if necessary.
Madison whispered, “M means me.”
Dad’s hand tightened around the laptop.
Then his phone rang.
The detective.
May you like
They had found Veronica.
But she wasn’t alone.
