Chapter 4 - THE HOTEL
Vanessa said the meeting with Grant was about a surprise for me.
Dad handed me bank records instead.
Three transfers.
$48,000.
$72,000.
$115,000.
All from an account tied to my family trust.
All sent to Redstone Development.
"The company buying my parents' house?"
Dad nodded.
Margaret added, "Redstone was formed four months ago by an attorney connected to Richard."
Vanessa's father stood.
"That proves nothing."
Dad looked at him.
"Then let your daughter explain."
Vanessa took my hand.
"Your father has always wanted to control you."
Mom spoke from her chair.
"No. He liked you until you started keeping Ethan away from us."
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
"You people never accepted that he had his own life."
I pulled my hand free.
"Why did my money go to Redstone?"
"I was protecting us."
"From what?"
She looked at Dad.
"From him."
Then Vanessa said, "Ask your father why he transferred half the company out of your name last spring."
I turned.
"What?"
Dad went silent.
May you like
Grant had sat at our kitchen table, eaten my mother's pie, and toasted our engagement. I had trusted him with passwords, projections, and retirement accounts. Seeing his name beside Redstone felt like finding a stranger wearing a friend's face.
For the first time since he took the microphone, he looked like the person hiding something.
