Chapter 1 - THE FOLDER
The leather belt struck Emily Langford Callahan across the back with a sound that silenced the mansion.
She collapsed forward onto the polished hardwood, catching herself on both hands. Pain traveled beneath her light satin dress. Above her, the chandelier cast warm gold across a room that had become unrecognizable.
Derek stood behind her in a black dress shirt, breathing hard, the belt hanging from his fist.
“Apologize!”
Across the room, Sloane Avery sat in Emily’s favorite armchair. The deep red of her evening dress looked almost black in the shadows. She held a champagne glass by the stem and watched Emily struggle with a small, satisfied smile.
“Look at her,” Sloane said. “She still thinks she has dignity.”
Emily pushed herself upward. Her arms trembled, but she forced her knees beneath her. She looked past the tears in her eyes and directly at Derek.
“She used your company money.”
Derek crossed the distance in two steps. He grabbed a fistful of Emily’s hair and forced her head up.
“You don’t question her. You answer to me.”
Sloane slowly sipped her champagne.
Emily had found the transfers that afternoon: $4.8 million moved from Callahan Systems into consulting companies with no employees, no offices, and the same mailing address as Sloane’s private stylist. She had frozen the final payment.
Derek had returned home furious.
Now he threw Emily back onto her knees.
“Sloane is helping me build my future.”
Sloane leaned comfortably into the chair Emily’s mother had chosen before she died.
“And you’re just in the way.”
For one second, Emily’s face crumpled.
Then she heard the mansion doors open behind Derek.
Charles Langford entered without hurry.
Emily’s father was sixty-two, silver-haired, and dressed in a dark suit sharp enough for a boardroom. He stopped when he saw his daughter on her knees and the belt in Derek’s hand.
The room went still.
Emily turned toward him.
“Dad…”
Derek slowly looked over his shoulder. The confidence in his face faltered.
“Charles?”
Charles walked forward without taking his eyes from him. Sloane lowered her champagne glass.
He looked at Emily, then the belt, then Derek.
“This is the man who thinks he built an empire?”
Derek straightened. “This is between my wife and me.”
Charles reached inside his coat and removed a sealed document folder.
He threw it onto the table.
The impact cut through the room.
Derek stared at the folder. Sloane’s smile disappeared.
May you like
Charles stepped closer until he stood directly in front of his son-in-law.
Then he looked straight into Derek’s eyes.
