Chapter 9 - THE FATHER WHO SOLD HIS OWN DAUGHTER
Harlan Beckett had never been a patient man.
When the authorities searched the warehouse, he became furious.
He called Delia into his office.
“You've destroyed everything.”
Delia stood near the door.
“I reported discrepancies.”
“You betrayed your family.”
She looked at him.
“Did you falsify the accounts?”
Harlan slammed his hand onto the desk.
“I kept this company alive!”
“By stealing?”
His face darkened.
“You ungrateful little girl.”
Delia flinched.
Then steadied herself.
“I'm twenty-six.”
“You'll always be my daughter.”
She looked at him.
“Then why have you treated me like an employee you don't have to pay?”
Harlan stared.
For a moment, he had no answer.
Then he said something that changed everything.
“Varo was supposed to marry Vivian.”
Delia frowned.
“What?”
Harlan laughed bitterly.
“That was the arrangement. He would settle the debt. Vivian would become his wife. We'd all benefit.”
Delia felt sick.
“Did Casimir agree?”
Harlan looked away.
“No.”
“Then there was no arrangement.”
“He was supposed to.”
Delia stared at her father.
“You invited him here to trade Vivian for money?”
Harlan's face hardened.
“Don't make it sound ugly.”
Delia shook her head.
“It is ugly.”
Then she opened the door.
“Delia!”
She stopped.
“If you walk out, you're no longer part of this family.”
She looked back.
For years, those words would have terrified her.
Now they sounded like permission.
May you like
“Then I suppose I'm finally free.”
And she left.
