Chapter 5 - My Father’s Part
I found my father in the hospital chapel.
He sat alone.
No jacket.
No tie.
He looked older than he had at the gala.
“Did you help her?”
He looked up.
“Daniel.”
“Answer.”
He closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
That word hurt differently.
I sat across from him.
“Why?”
“Your mother told me Emily was planning to take Sophia and leave.”
“And you believed her.”
“She showed me messages.”
“Fake messages.”
“I know that now.”
“No.”
I leaned forward.
“You knew enough then.”
He said nothing.
Dad had changed my travel schedule.
Added meetings.
Extended trips.
Every time I planned to return early, something urgent appeared.
A lender.
A contract.
A board emergency.
My father had helped keep me away.
“What did Mom tell you the money was for?”
He looked confused.
“What money?”
“The five thousand a month.”
He stared at me.
“You were sending Emily five thousand?”
Every month.
He genuinely did not know.
That mattered.
Maybe.
Then he said:
“Victoria told me Emily was refusing financial support.”
I laughed bitterly.
“She was stealing it.”
My father’s face collapsed.
Then Ramirez entered the chapel.
“We identified H.”
I looked at Dad.
Ramirez continued.
“It isn’t Harold.”
Dad exhaled.
“Who?”
“Helen March.”
I knew the name.
Victoria’s personal attorney.
She had handled family trusts for twenty years.
Ramirez continued.
“We recovered emails between your mother and March.”
The plan was organized.
Freeze Emily’s access.
Create evidence of instability.
Pressure her into signing divorce documents.
File for temporary custody.
Then push me toward a settlement that left Sophia primarily with Victoria.
“Why?” I asked.
Ramirez looked at Dad.
“Because of the Sterling trust.”
I frowned.
My grandfather had created a family trust decades ago.
I inherited my portion.
So did Caroline.
Sophia also had a future share.
But I did not know the details.
Dad did.
He whispered:
“If Sophia lived primarily under Victoria’s guardianship…”
Ramirez nodded.
“Victoria could control the child’s voting shares until adulthood.”
I stared at him.
“How much?”
Dad swallowed.
“Eleven percent of Sterling Hotels.”
My mother was not only trying to take my daughter.
She was trying to use her.
I stood.
Then Ramirez handed me another document.
“There’s one more problem.”
It was a board notice.
An emergency vote scheduled for Monday.
Agenda:
REMOVAL OF DANIEL STERLING AS CEO.
My signature appeared on an attached consent.
Fake.
May you like
Again.
And the proxy voting eleven percent on Sophia’s behalf was Victoria.
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