Chapter 6 - My Father's File
The attachment contained twenty-three pages of financial statements.
At first, they meant nothing to me.
Then Dana leaned closer.
"These are old Mercer Development loan schedules."
"Why would Ryan send them now?"
She kept reading.
My father had used company assets as collateral during a cash crisis eight years earlier. The loans had been legal, but ugly. Ryan's email made the implication clear: if I pushed the criminal case, he would release the documents and claim my father had nearly destroyed the company.
Maya laughed without humor.
"He's blackmailing a pregnant woman from the hospital. Classy."
Dana shook her head.
"There's a problem with his threat."
"What?"
"These loans were repaid six years ago. They were disclosed to the board. There's nothing here except bad history."
But Ortiz noticed something else.
"Where did he get these?"
Dana's eyes narrowed.
The documents were marked CONFIDENTIAL - BROOKS LEGAL ARCHIVE.
Ryan wasn't authorized to have them.
Dana called her office.
Ten minutes later, she learned someone had accessed the digital archive three nights earlier using credentials assigned to Vanessa Cole.
Vanessa wasn't a lawyer.
She wasn't even supposed to know the archive existed.
"She has been inside more than your marriage," Dana said.
Before I could answer, Dr. Patel rushed in.
"Emily, lie back. Now."
The monitor showed my daughter's heart rate dropping.
Everything became motion.
Nurses turned me onto my side. Oxygen covered my face. Someone started another IV.
"Stay with me," Dr. Patel said.
I clutched Maya's hand.
After two terrible minutes, the heartbeat recovered.
I sobbed into the mask.
Then a nurse picked up the water pitcher beside my bed.
"Who brought this in?"
"Why?" Maya asked.
The nurse pointed at the plastic seal.
May you like
It had been broken.
And floating near the bottom was a white powder that had not been there before.
