Derek arrived at Sterling headquarters furious enough that nobody needed to tell him why he had been summoned. He stormed through the executive floor with two attorneys behind him and demanded the security director, the general counsel, and Luna all meet him in the same room.
Luna refused the attorneys.
“This is not a board proceeding.”
“It became one when your security team searched my office.”
“They did not search it. They entered after your assistant reported the drawer open.”
“And conveniently found evidence.”
“Yes.”
“Evidence planted by whoever is framing me.”
His voice echoed against the conference-room glass.
Luna sat opposite him.
I was beside her.
Derek looked at me.
“Why is he here?”
“Because he is involved.”
“He’s an employee.”
“My husband.”
The word came naturally now.
Derek noticed.
I did too.
His attorneys waited outside with Victor.
Inside were only Derek, Luna, me, and a corporate investigator Luna had insisted on having as a witness.
Derek threw a photograph of Naomi’s badge onto the table.
“I have never seen that before.”
“What about the archive key?”
“No.”
“The note?”
“No.”
“Voss?”
His expression changed by perhaps one degree.
Luna saw it.
“So we’re there.”
“Where?”
“At the lie you practiced.”
Derek leaned back.
“I have employed Graham Voss.”
“For years.”
“Yes.”
“For surveillance.”
“Risk assessment.”
“Against me?”
“Sometimes.”
The admission came almost casually.
I felt Luna stiffen.
“You had me followed.”
“You had me followed too.”
“Not before you tried to take control of the company.”
“You mean before I tried to stop you from running it into the ground.”
“There it is.”
Derek smiled without warmth.
“The eternal Luna problem. Anyone who disagrees with you becomes dangerous.”
“Naomi was attacked.”
“And you think I ordered that?”
“I think your badge access, payments to Voss, and history of surveillance give me reason to ask.”
Derek looked at me.
“And what does the husband think?”
I said, “I think somebody wants us to believe you did it.”
That surprised him.
Luna turned toward me.
“So you’re defending me?” Derek asked.
“No.”
“Then what?”
“I think the evidence is too neat.”
He stared.
Naomi’s badge.
The archive key.
The note.
All in one drawer.
Someone had constructed a package.
Not evidence.
A story.
Derek slowly sat forward.
“You found something.”
Luna answered.
“My father’s vault.”
His expression betrayed him.
He knew about it.
Luna saw.
“You knew.”
“I knew there were boxes.”
“Box 314?”
“No.”
“Thomas Bennett?”
Derek’s eyes moved to me.
So did the investigator’s.
“I knew the name.”
“How?”
“My father mentioned him.”
“When?”
“Years ago.”
“Why?”
“Because Father was obsessed with old mistakes.”
My hands tightened under the table.
“What mistake was Thomas?”
Derek looked at me.
“The kind my father thought he could fix by controlling everyone else’s lives.”
Luna’s voice sharpened.
“Explain.”
Derek stood and walked toward the window.
“Our father knew Voss was corrupt long before he fired him.”
“That isn’t what his recording says.”
Derek turned.
“What recording?”
Luna did not answer.
That frightened him.
Good.
“He recorded himself?”
“Answer the question.”
Derek stared at her.
Then sat again.
“Father suspected Voss years earlier but lacked proof.”
“And Thomas?”
“Bennett collected some.”
“Then disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“Because Voss threatened him.”
“Yes.”
I said, “You knew my father was alive.”
Derek looked at me.
“I knew Father believed he was.”
“You paid Voss to find him.”
His expression tightened.
So we had him.
“Why?”
“Because Bennett had records.”
“About Voss?”
“About everything.”
“What does everything mean?”
Derek hesitated.
Luna said, “He already knows enough.”
“Does he?”
“Yes.”
Derek looked between us.
“Then tell me what Richard wrote.”
The fact he used his father’s first name struck me.
Not Dad.
Not Father.
Richard.
Luna noticed too.
“You first.”
Derek laughed softly.
“You always did enjoy negotiations.”
“Why did you wait six minutes before calling an ambulance?”
The question hit him like a physical blow.
For the first time, his composure genuinely disappeared.
“Where did you hear that?”
“Thomas kept records.”
Derek stared at me.
My father had been watching.
The knowledge frightened him.
“He was there?”
“Answer.”
Derek stood again.
“No.”
“Derek.”
“No. If Thomas Bennett is alive, then you have no idea what you’ve stepped into.”
“Why did you wait?”
He turned toward Luna.
“You really believe I killed him.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
She stood too.
“I found Dad on the floor eight minutes after you supposedly called emergency services. For three years, I believed you found him and called immediately.”
“I did call.”
“Six minutes later.”
Derek’s face twisted.
“You want the truth?”
“Yes.”
“Fine.”
He slammed both palms against the table.
“I was trying to find what he had taken.”
Silence.
Luna looked almost confused.
“What?”
“Father and I argued.”
“We know.”
“He accused me of using Voss.”
“You were.”
“I admitted it.”
“For what?”
“To investigate board members. Competitors. You.”
“You had your sister investigated.”
“You were being positioned to control everything.”
“I was doing the job.”
“You were becoming him.”
That silenced her.
Derek continued.
“Father told me Voss was poison. He said I had no idea what that man had done before I hired him.”
“You knew Voss worked for him.”
“I knew Voss ran security. I didn’t know about Bennett.”
“What happened that night?”
Derek looked toward the table.
“Father had a file.”
“What file?”
“The Bennett file.”
My pulse jumped.
“The one stolen from the archive.”
“I assume.”
Derek rubbed his face.
“He said the file proved why Voss could never be trusted. I told him I wanted to see it.”
“And?”
“He refused.”
“So you argued.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“He told me he had changed the trust.”
Luna’s breathing slowed.
“That night?”
“Yes.”
“He told you about the marriage condition?”
“Not specifically. He said I would never control his voting shares.”
“And you became angry.”
“I became furious.”
He looked at his sister.
“You think I didn’t know you were his favorite?”
Luna flinched.
Derek laughed bitterly.
“He trained me my entire life to inherit Sterling. Then somewhere along the way he decided I was a threat.”
“Because you were using Voss.”
“Yes.”
The admission was stark.
“Then Father grabbed his chest.”
Luna’s face changed.
Derek looked away.
“He sat down.”
“You mean collapsed?”
“No. Not immediately.”
“What did you do?”
“I asked whether I should call someone.”
“And?”
“He said no.”
“Why?”
“He thought it would pass.”
I saw Luna’s anger building.
“What happened next?”
“He told me to get out.”
“So you did?”
“No.”
Derek swallowed.
“I went to his desk.”
Luna stared.
“You searched his desk while he was having a heart attack?”
“I didn’t know it was a heart attack.”
“You knew something was wrong.”
“Yes.”
“And instead of calling an ambulance, you looked for the file.”
“Yes.”
The word fell into the room like something dead.
Luna stepped back.
For once Derek did not defend himself.
He simply continued.
“I found the drawer empty.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know.”
“Six minutes.”
He looked at her.
“Yes.”
“What made you call?”
“He fell.”
Luna covered her mouth.
Derek’s voice became quieter.
“I heard the chair move. When I turned around, he was on the floor.”
“And Voss?”
Derek froze.
“What?”
“Thomas’s records put Voss at Blackwood.”
Something shifted in his eyes.
Fear.
Not guilt.
Fear.
“You need to stop saying that name.”
“Why?”
“Because you don’t know him.”
“You hired him.”
“Yes.”
“And now you’re frightened of him.”
Derek said nothing.
I leaned forward.
“What happened with Voss that night?”
He looked at me.
“Nothing.”
“You’re lying.”
Derek stood.
“I’m done.”
Luna moved between him and the door.
“You do not get to walk out after telling me you searched Dad’s desk while he was dying.”
His face twisted.
“You want to hate me? Fine.”
“I want the truth.”
“You want a version where you were the good child and I was the monster.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
His voice cracked.
“You think I haven’t replayed those six minutes every day for three years?”
Luna stared at him.
“I should have called.”
He looked away.
“I know that.”
The room went quiet.
For the first time, I saw Derek not as an enemy or rival but as a man trapped inside one terrible decision.
Then Luna asked, “Was Voss there?”
Derek closed his eyes.
That was the answer.
“Derek.”
“Yes.”
Luna went still.
“He came after the argument started.”
“How?”
“I called him.”
“You called Voss to our family home?”
“I wanted leverage.”
“For what?”
“The trust.”
“You brought a private investigator into Dad’s house while you were fighting about inheritance?”
“I was angry.”
“What did Voss do?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why did Thomas write that Voss left thirteen minutes after Dad collapsed?”
Derek stared at her.
“I don’t know.”
“You were there.”
“I was in the library.”
“So was Father.”
“Not the whole time.”
Luna frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Derek’s voice lowered.
“Voss asked Father to speak privately.”
“Where?”
“Study.”
“When?”
“About fifteen minutes before Father collapsed.”
My skin prickled.
“What did they discuss?”
“I couldn’t hear.”
“How long?”
“Maybe ten minutes.”
“And after?”
“Father came back furious.”
“At Voss?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
Derek hesitated.
“He said, ‘I should have finished this twenty years ago.’”
Thomas.
Voss.
The buried investigation.
Luna sat slowly.
“What happened to Voss when Dad collapsed?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said you were there.”
“He had left the library.”
“Where did he go?”
“I thought he left the house.”
“But Thomas recorded him leaving at 10:17.”
Thirteen minutes after Richard collapsed.
Derek looked sick.
“I didn’t know.”
“So Voss was inside Blackwood while you searched Father’s desk.”
“Yes.”
“Unaccounted for.”
“Yes.”
Luna stared at him.
“What could he access?”
Derek whispered, “Anything.”
The investigator finally spoke.
“Did Mr. Voss know about Richard Sterling’s medication?”
Derek looked at him.
“Probably.”
Luna turned.
“What medication?”
The investigator said, “Heart medication. If someone intended to worsen a cardiac event, access could matter.”
Derek went white.
“No.”
Nobody accused him.
The possibility existed without help.
Richard’s death could still have been natural.
But Voss had been inside.
Unobserved.
And Richard had confronted him minutes before collapsing.
Derek sank into the chair.
“Oh God.”
Luna’s anger did not disappear.
But fear replaced part of it.
Derek looked at her.
“I didn’t kill Dad.”
She answered slowly.
“I believe you didn’t intend to.”
The distinction hurt him.
It should have.
His phone buzzed.
He glanced at the screen.
His face changed instantly.
I recognized the reaction.
We had all learned to fear messages now.
“What?” Luna asked.
Derek turned the phone around.
A photograph filled the screen.
Thomas Bennett.
Alive.
Standing beside a motel ice machine.
The picture had been taken through a long lens.
A message appeared beneath it.
You told them too much.
Another followed.
Now I clean up both families.
Derek stared at me.
“Voss.”
I was already standing.
“When was that photograph taken?”
Victor rushed in from outside after Derek called him.
He examined the metadata.
Unlike the earlier image, this one had not been stripped completely.
Timestamp.
Sixteen minutes ago.
Location.
Not New Mexico.
Colorado.
Luna read the coordinates.
Her face changed.
“That’s Blackwood.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 12: We Raced Back to Blackwood to Find My Father, but Richard Sterling’s Final Safeguard Was Waiting There Instead
The Morning My Boss Closed Her Office Door, Opened a File About My Life, and Made an Impossible Offer
Part 11 of 26
