Thomas Avery did not know investigators were waiting when he arrived at Bennett Industrial the next morning.
Dad insisted on being present.
Detective Chen objected.
Dad won.
I stayed at the secure apartment with Jason and Officer Reyes, watching the interview through an encrypted video feed.
Thomas looked exactly as I remembered him.
Silver hair.
Tailored navy suit.
Round glasses.
The same man who had attended my college graduation and sent flowers when my grandmother died.
He entered Dad’s conference room smiling.
Then he saw Detective Chen.
The smile disappeared.
Dad did not offer him a chair.
“Thomas.”
Thomas glanced toward the door.
“Richard, what is this?”
Dad placed the altered trust documents on the table.
“Sit.”
Thomas sat.
Detective Chen introduced herself.
Thomas immediately said, “I think I should call my attorney.”
“You may.”
His eyes moved to the documents.
That was enough.
Dad saw it too.
“How long?”
Thomas looked at him.
“How long what?”
“Don’t.”
Dad’s voice was quiet.
“Not after thirty years.”
Thomas’s shoulders lowered.
I recognized that moment.
The point when denial became more exhausting than truth.
“I never meant for anyone to get hurt.”
Dad’s face did not change.
“That sentence usually comes after someone has done something that could hurt people.”
Thomas looked down.
“I owed money.”
“Patrick said that.”
His eyes lifted sharply.
“You spoke to Patrick?”
“Answer me.”
Thomas removed his glasses.
“Three years ago I made several investments.”
“How much did you lose?”
“Almost everything.”
Dad stared at him.
“You told me your portfolio was fine.”
“I was ashamed.”
“So you went to Marcus Cole?”
“No. He came to me.”
“How?”
“He knew.”
“About your losses?”
“Yes.”
Marcus’s method was becoming obvious.
Find the wound.
Offer relief.
Turn relief into ownership.
“What did he want first?” Chen asked.
“Information.”
“About Richard?”
“Mostly business.”
“When did it become the trust?”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“Last year.”
I looked at Jason.
He looked sick.
Dad asked, “Did you give Patrick information?”
“Yes.”
“Directly?”
“Sometimes.”
“How much did he know?”
“Enough to understand the structure.”
“And the restructuring?”
Thomas nodded.
Dad turned away.
I had never seen him look old before.
Not really.
In that moment he did.
Thomas said, “Richard, I can fix this.”
Dad turned back.
“You altered legal documents intended to protect my children.”
“I can reverse it.”
“You already had opportunities.”
“I was trapped.”
Dad’s expression hardened.
“So was my daughter.”
Thomas looked toward the camera without knowing I was watching.
“Jenna wasn’t supposed to be involved like this.”
I whispered, “I was always involved.”
Chen asked, “What was supposed to happen?”
Thomas swallowed.
“Marcus wanted Richard to sign the revised trust.”
“Why?”
“The temporary voting authority.”
“We know that.”
Thomas looked surprised.
Chen continued. “What happens after signature?”
Silence.
“Thomas.”
“He triggers the succession clause.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
Dad leaned across the table.
“You knew enough to alter my trust.”
“I swear I don’t know how he planned to trigger it.”
“Death?”
Thomas looked away.
That was answer enough.
Dad stepped back.
Chen took over.
“Was Richard supposed to die?”
“I never agreed to that.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Thomas’s breathing became uneven.
“Marcus talked about contingencies.”
“What contingencies?”
“An accident.”
My stomach tightened.
“What kind?” Chen asked.
“He never said.”
“Did Patrick know?”
“Yes.”
I stopped breathing.
Dad asked, “How do you know?”
“Patrick was there once when Marcus discussed timing.”
“When?”
“About four months ago.”
“What did Patrick say?”
Thomas rubbed his forehead.
“He told Marcus to leave Richard out of it.”
A tiny fragment of relief tried to rise in me.
Thomas destroyed it with his next sentence.
“Then he suggested Jenna’s signature might be enough.”
I closed my eyes.
Patrick had tried to redirect the danger.
Toward me.
Jason swore beside me.
Thomas continued.
“Marcus said Jenna alone wasn’t enough. The old trust required Richard’s death before certain interests could be manipulated.”
Dad’s hands clenched.
“So they needed me first.”
Thomas nodded.
“And Jenna second?”
“I don’t know.”
“Stop saying that.”
Dad’s voice cracked like a whip.
Thomas flinched.
Detective Chen asked, “What is the deadline?”
“Thursday.”
“Why?”
“The documents expire if not executed. Richard’s attorney would prepare new versions.”
“Anything else?”
Thomas hesitated.
“Marcus has investors waiting.”
“For Bennett Industrial?”
“For the affiliated companies.”
Dad understood before I did.
“He has already promised control.”
Thomas nodded.
“How much money?”
“More than two hundred million in commitments.”
The room on my screen seemed to shrink.
This was not merely revenge.
Marcus had turned a family grievance into a financial operation.
He intended to obtain control cheaply, destabilize Dad’s businesses, then sell or restructure them for enormous profit.
Patrick’s failing company had been one piece.
Thomas’s debt another.
My marriage another.
People were tools.
Weaknesses were entry points.
Dad asked, “Who are the investors?”
“I don’t know all of them.”
“Names you do know.”
Thomas began giving them.
Chen recorded everything.
Then Dad asked the question I had been waiting for.
“Where is Marcus?”
Thomas looked frightened.
“I don’t know.”
“When did you last speak?”
“Last night.”
“What did he say?”
“He told me Thursday was still happening.”
Dad glanced toward Chen.
“What else?”
Thomas swallowed.
“He said Patrick had become unreliable.”
My chest tightened.
“And?”
“He said unreliable pieces get removed.”
Jason looked at me.
Patrick was in danger.
I hated that I cared.
Thomas continued.
“Then he asked whether Jenna had ever been to the old Bennett plant.”
Dad’s face changed.
“Which plant?”
“Riverside.”
Dad went still.
Jason whispered, “What is Riverside?”
Dad answered through the video feed as though he heard us.
“My first factory.”
The place where Victor Cole had been his partner.
The place where everything began.
Chen asked, “Is it operating?”
“No. Closed twelve years ago.”
“Who owns it?”
“I do.”
“Security?”
“Minimal.”
Thomas looked terrified now.
“Marcus said everything should end where it started.”
A chill moved through me.
Detective Chen immediately sent officers toward Riverside.
Dad sat opposite Thomas.
“Why Jenna?”
“I don’t know.”
“You know something.”
Thomas looked at the table.
“Marcus hates you.”
“I know.”
“But Patrick…”
He stopped.
“What about Patrick?”
Thomas looked toward Dad.
“Patrick didn’t just want your money.”
My stomach tightened.
“What did he want?”
“Your approval.”
That answer surprised everyone.
Dad frowned.
Thomas continued.
“He hated that you never trusted him.”
“I had reasons.”
“He knew.”
I thought about Patrick constantly trying to impress Dad.
Business ideas.
Expensive watches.
Stories about deals.
I had assumed it was vanity.
Maybe some of it was.
“He wanted to prove he belonged in Richard’s world,” Thomas said. “Marcus used that.”
Dad looked away.
“Patrick’s company was supposed to become part of Bennett Industrial after Marcus engineered the acquisition.”
“How?”
“Patrick believed if he helped expose weaknesses in one subsidiary, he could later step in as the person who saved it.”
The stupidity of it stunned me.
Patrick had been helping create a disaster so he could become the hero.
“And when his own company failed?”
“Marcus increased the pressure.”
The whole scheme had fed on Patrick’s insecurity.
But insecurity had not forged my name.
It had not transferred my money.
It had not insured my life.
Those were choices.
Chen’s phone rang.
She answered.
Everyone watched.
Her expression sharpened.
“Secure it. Nobody enters.”
She ended the call.
“What?” Dad asked.
“Officers reached Riverside.”
“Marcus?”
“No.”
“Patrick?”
“No.”
“They found a room inside the old administrative building.”
My stomach tightened.
“What room?”
“Someone has been using it recently.”
Dad stood.
“For what?”
“Surveillance.”
Chen looked directly toward the camera.
“Photographs of your family. Schedules. Maps. Financial charts.”
Jason muttered, “Of course.”
“There’s also a wall calendar.”
“What’s on it?”
Chen hesitated.
“Thursday is marked in red.”
Dad asked, “Anything else?”
“Yes.”
“Say it.”
“Tomorrow is marked too.”
My heart accelerated.
“What happens tomorrow?”
Chen checked the message she had received.
“Beside the date someone wrote: Bring Jenna.”
Jason stood immediately.
“No.”
I stared at the screen.
Marcus wanted me at Riverside.
Why?
Thomas began shaking his head.
“I didn’t know about that.”
Dad rounded on him.
“What is tomorrow?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
Thomas pressed his fingers against his temples.
Then his face changed.
“The original records.”
“What records?”
“Victor’s.”
Dad stopped.
“What about them?”
“Marcus believes you kept the original audit proving his father stole from you.”
“I did.”
“Where?”
Dad hesitated.
“Riverside.”
Detective Chen stared at him.
“You left evidence there for twenty years?”
“In a secure archive.”
Thomas whispered, “That’s what Marcus wants.”
I understood.
The grievance sustaining Marcus’s obsession depended on a story.
Richard Bennett destroyed Victor Cole.
Richard stole his father’s company.
Richard ruined their family.
But somewhere inside Riverside sat the original evidence showing Victor had been the thief.
“Marcus wants to destroy it,” I said.
Thomas nodded.
Dad frowned.
“Then why bring Jenna?”
Thomas looked at him.
“Because Patrick told Marcus she was the only person you would trade those records for.”
My stomach dropped.
Dad went white.
Patrick had given Marcus the most dangerous piece of information imaginable.
Not an account number.
Not a password.
A truth about my father.
He would trade anything for his daughter.
Chen ordered Thomas taken into custody.
Dad protested when she told him he was being moved to another secure location.
“I’m not hiding while my daughter is threatened.”
I spoke through the video connection.
“Dad.”
He looked toward the camera.
“You’re not going to Riverside.”
“Neither are you.”
“Agreed.”
He seemed surprised.
“I’m done walking into plans other people make for me.”
His expression softened.
“Good.”
The feed ended after officers escorted Thomas away.
Jason sat beside me.
“Do you think Patrick really told Marcus Dad would trade the records for you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s true.”
Jason looked down.
Dad would.
So would Jason.
That was what Marcus understood.
Love could become leverage when the wrong person learned where to press.
Officer Reyes entered the apartment.
“We’re moving again.”
“Why?”
“Thomas knew this location.”
I stood.
“Where?”
“Different secure site.”
We packed almost nothing.
As I reached for my coat, the evidence phone buzzed.
Reyes checked it.
Patrick.
One message.
Do not go to Riverside.
Then another.
Marcus doesn’t need you there anymore.
My skin prickled.
Why?
Patrick responded almost instantly.
Because he has someone else.
A photograph arrived.
Dad.
He was standing beside his car outside Bennett Industrial.
The image had been taken minutes earlier.
A man stood behind him.
Gun pressed against his side.
Marcus Cole.
Click here to continue reading: PART 11: Marcus Took My Father to the Factory Where His Grudge Began, and Patrick Offered Me the One Bargain I Couldn’t Trust
I Arrived at My Parents’ Dinner Without the Car My Father Had Given Me, and Patrick Was Already Smiling
Part 10 of 20
