Chapter 4 - THE DEBT THAT NEVER DISAPPEARED
Laurel's father had died when she was sixteen.
A boating accident.
That was what the official report said.
He had been a marine mechanic who worked long hours repairing engines along the coast.
He wasn't wealthy.
He wasn't famous.
But he had loved his daughters fiercely.
Laurel remembered his rough hands.
His terrible jokes.
The way he always brought home broken things and somehow made them work again.
She looked at Weston.
“Tell me.”
He sat across from her.
“Twenty years ago, your father worked on one of my family's vessels.”
Laurel frowned.
“He never mentioned you.”
“He had good reasons.”
Weston looked toward the window.
“My father controlled more than shipping contracts. He made enemies. Dangerous ones.”
Laurel remained silent.
“One night, there was an explosion aboard a cargo vessel. I was trapped below deck.”
Her fingers tightened around the photograph.
“Your father came back for me.”
Weston nodded.
“He could have escaped. Instead, he went into the smoke and pulled me out.”
Laurel swallowed.
“What happened afterward?”
“He was injured. Badly.”
“Did you help him?”
Weston's expression tightened.
“I tried.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“No,” he admitted.
He looked at her.
“My father ordered the incident buried. Daniel refused to sign a false statement.”
Laurel felt cold.
“And?”
Weston hesitated.
“Your father left the company.”
She stared at him.
“Then he died.”
“Yes.”
“Was it really an accident?”
Weston didn't answer immediately.
May you like
And in that silence, Laurel heard something she had never considered before.
The possibility that her father's death had not been accidental at all.
