Alistair let out a quiet laugh. He kissed my face again before slowly turning to look at my parents. The soft look on his face disappeared, replaced by eyes as cold as ice.
“What were you saying,” Alistair asked in a low, scary voice, “about my son having no father?”
Reginald backed up so fast he hit his back against the heart monitor machine, making it beep loudly.
“Mr. Sanders… I… we…” Reginald stuttered, unable to talk right. The loud, mean man who was just threatening me was now shaking like a scared child. “We did not know… Florence never told us anything.”
“Because she did not want your nasty words near my son,” Alistair said coldly, taking a slow step toward my father.
Barbara held her pearl necklace tight with shaking hands. “Mr. Sanders, this is a big mistake,” she said in a rush. “Florence is… she is confused from giving birth. If we knew you were the father, we would have been so happy! We would have thrown a huge party for you!”
“I do not want your parties, Barbara,” Alistair said, looking down at the table. “I want you to leave us alone.”
His eyes hit the yellow folder. Before my father could move, one of Alistair’s lawyers stepped up fast and grabbed the folder off the table.
“What is this?” Alistair asked, reading the legal paper while looking straight at Reginald. “You are trying to force a woman who just had a baby to give up her business shares while she is hurt on hospital medicine? That is a crazy thing to do, Reginald.”
“It is… it is just family business!” Reginald lied fast, sweat running down his face. “Raymond has a buyer for our buildings! We just need her shares so we can complete the sale!”
I sat up a little bit, feeling a small pain in my stomach, but holding Kirk safe. The time to hide was over.
“Raymond does not have a buyer, Dad,” I said clearly.
Reginald turned his head to glare at me, his eyes wide with fear. “Florence, shut your mouth,” he warned weakly. “You don’t know anything about business.”
“I know everything,” I said back smoothly. “Raymond needs my twelve percent because he took forty million dollars out of the company bank accounts for himself, and now the money is gone.”
Barbara gasped out loud and moved closer to me. “That is a lie! Raymond is smart! He is saving our company!”
“Raymond is a thief,” I said, looking right at my mother. “He stole the money. I warned you and Dad about this two years ago. I showed you the fake bank papers, and I showed you the hidden accounts. Remember what you told me, Dad?”
Reginald swallowed hard, unable to say a word.
“You told me I was too silly for business,” I said in a calm voice. “You told me I was jealous of my brother and ordered me to go back to my desk.”
Reginald looked from me to Alistair, finally understanding what was happening.
“So,” I said, watching them fall apart, “since my own family did not care about the truth, I gave the proof to the one man who had enough money and power to ruin you completely.”
Reginald’s legs gave out a little bit, and he had to hold onto the hospital bed so he would not fall. He looked at Alistair, finally realizing this was not a surprise visit or a secret romance. This was a plan we had built for nine months to crush them.
As Reginald started breathing fast in total fear, Alistair’s head lawyer took out his phone and made a call that was going to destroy the Pembroke name for good.
PART 3: THE MATCH AND THE ARSONIST
“You gave him our private files?!” Reginald screamed, his voice turning into a high squeal that hurt my ears. All his fancy act was gone, showing just how weak and dishonest he really was. “You bad girl! I will take you to court! I will send you to jail!”
He ran toward my bed with his hands out.
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