Chapter 24 - The Crawford Protocol
Richard Crawford returned to Sterling Tower voluntarily.
My father nearly had him thrown out.
I stopped security.
If Richard knew the truth, I wanted every word.
We met inside the secure boardroom.
The doors locked behind us.
Richard studied Chloe without emotion.
“You look like your mother.”
Chloe recoiled.
“You know her?”
“I hired her.”
“When?”
“1991.”
Richard sat.
“Eleanor Montgomery was exceptionally intelligent, ruthlessly ambitious, and completely comfortable doing things respectable accountants refused to do.”
My father slammed his hand against the table.
“What is the Continuity Protocol?”
Richard smiled faintly.
“So Daniel found it.”
“Answer him,” I said.
Richard looked at me.
“The protocol was insurance.”
“Against what?”
“Against Arthur.”
My father stiffened.
“I knew Arthur would eventually turn against me. So I created legal mechanisms ensuring Crawford influence would survive inside Sterling regardless of what happened to me.”
“Through Parker?”
“Eventually.”
Richard explained that Parker's father had been one of his closest associates.
After Richard vanished, Parker inherited access to dormant shell companies, trusts, offshore accounts, and confidential Sterling records.
“But Parker changed,” Richard said.
“How?”
“He stopped protecting my interests.”
A faint expression of disgust crossed his face.
“He decided he deserved the empire himself.”
“And Eleanor?”
“Parker recruited her again.”
“For what?”
Richard looked toward me.
“To get close to you.”
The room fell silent.
“Dominic meeting you wasn't coincidence.”
My chest tightened.
“Explain.”
“Parker arranged the first professional conference where you met Dominic.”
I remembered it.
Chicago.
Five years earlier.
Dominic had spilled coffee near my table.
He apologized.
We talked.
We exchanged numbers.
I had always believed it was fate.
It had been choreography.
“What was Dominic supposed to do?”
Richard's answer was immediate.
“Marry you.”
“And then?”
“Produce an heir.”
My hand instinctively moved toward my chest.
Adrian whispered, “Jesus.”
Richard continued.
“Once you had a child, control of certain Sterling family trusts would eventually pass through your bloodline.”
I understood.
“They wanted access through Aria.”
“Yes.”
“But why kill me?”
May you like
Richard stared directly into my eyes.
“Because with you alive, they could never control her.”
