Chapter 18 - Emma’s Choice
Caleb thought he had misheard.
“My sister?”
Natalie nodded weakly.
“Emma Hart came to see me yesterday afternoon. She said she needed the records to protect your mother. I gave her copies.”
Caleb turned.
Emma was standing near the office door.
Her face had gone white.
“Emma?”
She began crying before anyone accused her.
“I was trying to help.”
“Where are the files?”
“I gave them to a reporter.”
Everyone stared at her.
Emma wiped her face.
“I didn’t trust Dad. I didn’t trust Victor. I didn’t even know if Caleb would believe me once the wedding started. So I contacted Julia Kane from the New York Ledger.”
Caleb remembered the reporter.
She had investigated corporate healthcare abuses for years.
Emma continued. “I told her if anything happened to Mom, publish everything.”
Margaret stood slowly.
“You knew where I was?”
“Not at first. I found a payment to Cedar Ridge in Dad’s office six weeks ago. Sloane told me not to interfere.”
Sloane closed her eyes.
Emma looked at her brother.
“I should have told you.”
“Yes.”
“I was scared you’d think I was trying to destroy your wedding.”
“You were trying to save our mother.”
“I didn’t know how.”
Caleb pulled her into a hug.
For the first time since the ballroom doors opened, something inside him loosened.
Then Emma’s phone rang.
Julia Kane.
Emma answered on speaker.
“Julia?”
The reporter sounded breathless.
“I just received a legal threat from Whitmore’s attorneys. They want an injunction in federal court within the hour.”
“Can they stop you?” Emma asked.
“Maybe temporarily.”
Caleb said, “What do you have?”
“Enough to prove Cedar Ridge falsified charts, isolated residents, and accepted payments from private families to restrict communication.”
Margaret’s face changed.
“This is bigger than me.”
Julia said, “Much bigger. I found twelve other families.”
Detective Morales exchanged a look with Caleb.
Julia continued. “I’m publishing in twenty minutes unless a judge stops us.”
Then someone knocked hard on the bakery’s front door.
A federal marshal entered carrying papers.
He looked at Emma.
“Emma Hart?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve been subpoenaed to appear in federal court immediately.”
Caleb frowned. “For what?”
May you like
The marshal handed over the papers.
Victor Whitmore was challenging Eleanor Hart’s trust amendment before the evidence could be locked down.
