Chapter 10 - THE FATHER WHO COULDN'T SPEAK
Richard Brooks had not attended a board meeting in fourteen months.
After his stroke, his speech became limited.
His right hand barely moved.
The family assumed he no longer used email independently.
Daniel drove to the care facility with Michael.
Sophia was not invited.
Richard sat by a window.
Older.
Thinner.
Still sharp in the eyes.
Daniel placed the tablet in front of him.
“Dad, did Sophia send you this?”
Richard looked at the memo.
Then at Daniel.
He lifted his left hand.
Tapped the screen.
Opened an email app.
Michael stared.
“You use this?”
Richard nodded.
Daniel felt betrayed by something he could not explain.
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
Richard typed slowly.
BECAUSE YOU STOPPED ASKING ME QUESTIONS.
Daniel went still.
Fair.
Then:
SOPHIA DID NOT SEND FILE.
“Who did?”
Richard typed:
FORWARDED THROUGH HER ACCOUNT.
“By who?”
Richard looked at both sons.
Then typed:
CHARLES.
Michael swore.
“Why would Charles use Sophia’s account?”
Richard:
TO MAKE HER LOOK ALONE.
Daniel stared.
Charles was insulating himself.
If the plan failed, Sophia carried the evidence.
Then Richard typed another line.
CHARLES THINKS I AM USELESS.
Michael almost laughed.
Daniel did not.
Richard opened a folder.
Months of saved trust correspondence.
He had been quietly reading everything.
Then one document appeared.
NorthBridge side agreement.
Charles’s firm would receive an additional success payment if the family trust approved the deal without extended litigation.
Another incentive.
Then Richard opened an older file.
Six months earlier.
Hidden camera stream access.
Daniel’s account.
Richard’s email address.
Daniel looked at him.
“You accessed my camera?”
Richard nodded.
Before Sophia.
Before Charles’s office breach.
Before Michael knew.
Daniel felt cold.
“Why?”
Richard typed:
BECAUSE SOMEONE WAS ALREADY WATCHING YOU.
Then he opened a screenshot.
A login alert from Daniel’s camera system.
User:
UNKNOWN ADMIN.
Date:
May you like
Seven months earlier.
Someone had been inside Daniel’s surveillance system before he even knew there was a conspiracy.
