Chapter 6 - THE FATHER WHO SOLD HIS SON
Damian read the ledger in silence.
Clara sat across from him in the morning room.
Arthur stood beside the fireplace.
The doors remained open.
Clara had insisted.
Damian had agreed.
When he reached the final pages, his face changed.
He looked at Arthur.
“Explain.”
Arthur swallowed.
“Your father had debts.”
Damian stared.
“I know.”
“Not ordinary debts.”
Arthur looked down.
“He owed Edward Kensington money. A great deal.”
Damian's jaw tightened.
“And?”
“Richard planned to transfer control of several companies through you.”
Damian frowned.
“I was ten.”
“Yes.”
Arthur's voice trembled.
“He intended to make you the legal beneficiary of transactions that would conceal his obligations.”
Clara stared.
“He was going to use his son?”
Arthur nodded.
“Joanne discovered the paperwork.”
Damian looked at the ledger.
“She refused to destroy it.”
“Yes.”
“And my father accused her of theft.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Silence.
Then Damian asked:
“Why didn't she go to the police?”
Arthur looked at Clara.
“Because Richard threatened her daughter.”
Clara felt her stomach drop.
She had been six years old.
A child.
Her mother had fled to protect her.
Damian stared at the ledger.
Then whispered:
“She saved me.”
Arthur nodded.
“Yes.”
***
Clara stood.
She couldn't breathe.
Her mother had spent twenty years carrying a secret that wasn't hers.
She had been accused.
Threatened.
Driven from her home.
And possibly killed.
All because she'd refused to let a powerful man use his child as a shield.
Clara looked at Damian.
“Did you know?”
His eyes met hers.
“No.”
She wanted to believe him.
But belief was dangerous.
She'd learned that from her mother.
***
Damian stood.
“I'm going to turn this over to investigators.”
Arthur looked alarmed.
“Sir—”
Damian raised a hand.
“No.”
He looked at the ledger.
“My father is dead. Whatever he built, I'm not protecting it at the cost of another family.”
Clara stared.
“Even if it destroys your business?”
Damian looked at her.
“Yes.”
She searched his face.
Then asked:
“Why?”
He swallowed.
“Because your mother deserved better.”
***
That night, Damian called his attorney.
He arranged for the records to be preserved and reviewed.
He also requested an independent investigation into Joanne's death.
Clara watched from the doorway.
For the first time, she felt the truth moving.
Not quickly.
Not safely.
But forward.
***
Across the city, Edward Kensington received a phone call.
A man spoke quietly.
“Costello found the ledger.”
Edward closed his eyes.
Then asked:
“Who has it?”
“His housemaid.”
Edward's expression hardened.
“Joanne Hughes's daughter?”
“Yes.”
Silence.
May you like
Then Edward said:
“Twenty years, and that family still doesn't know when to disappear.”
