PART 2 — The Men at the Door
Garrick crossed the foyer with the slow confidence of a man expecting another guest he could intimidate.
He opened the door.
Then he stopped breathin
g.
Commissioner Raymond Fletcher stood on the front step in a dark overcoat. Beside him was Evelyn Park, chairwoman of the Ashford Industries board.
Behind them stood three board members, Dr. Michael Chen, and Marcus Hale—the attorney who had managed my family trust for more than two decades.
Garrick’s hand tightened around the door.
“What is this?”
Evelyn stepped forward.
“An emergency meeting.”
“At my house?”
“At the home of the woman who controls thirty-eight percent of our voting shares,” she replied.
Garrick slowly turned toward me.
For the first time that evening, uncertainty appeared in his eyes.
Miriam hurried into the foyer.
“This is a private family dinner.”
Commissioner Fletcher looked past her toward Sienna.
“I received a request to conduct a welfare check.”
“No one here needs help,” Garrick said.
Sienna’s fingers closed around mine.
Fletcher noticed the sling immediately.
“Ma’am, did someone injure you?”
Garrick answered before she could speak.
“My wife fell.”
Dr. Chen entered the room.
“Then she won’t mind being examined.”
Miriam moved in front of him.
“You cannot simply walk into our home.”
“It’s my home too,” Sienna whispered.
Garrick turned sharply.
She flinched.
Everyone saw it.
Commissioner Fletcher’s expression changed.
“Sienna,” he said gently, “do you want these people to remain inside?”
She looked at her husband.
Then at Miriam.
Finally, she looked at me.
“Yes.”
Garrick laughed, but the sound lacked confidence.
“This is absurd.”
Evelyn removed a folder from her leather case.
“Your promotion has been suspended pending an emergency review.”
His face hardened.
“On whose authority?”
“Mine,” I said.
Silence filled the foyer.
Miriam stared at me as though seeing me for the first time.
I stood and walked toward them.
“My family trust saved Ashford Industries twenty-two years ago. Your family kept the name, the mansion, and the executive offices.”
I stopped directly in front of Garrick.
“But we kept the deciding vote.”
Dr. Chen guided Sienna toward the library for a private examination.
Ten minutes later, he came back alone.
His face was grim.
“This injury was not caused by a fall.”
Commissioner Fletcher looked toward Garrick.
Dr. Chen lowered his voice.
“And based on the bruising, this was not the first time.”
Then a scream came from inside the library.
It was Sienna.
When I rushed through the door, she was staring at the inside of her sling.
May you like
The small pocket stitched into the lining had been cut open.
Whatever she had hidden there was gone.
