Chapter 7 - THE MAN COLE CALLED FAMILY
Derek Sloan was still inside Bennett Hospitality headquarters when Cole arrived after midnight.
The Washington-area corporate campus looked nearly empty.
Security lights glowed across the lobby.
Two company security officers waited beside the elevators.
Sarah walked beside Cole.
“You are not confronting him alone.”
“I’m not planning to hit him.”
“That wasn’t what I meant.”
Cole pressed the elevator button.
Sarah studied him.
“You trusted him.”
“He held Ava at her baptism.”
“I know.”
“He sat beside me at Caroline’s funeral.”
“I know.”
The elevator opened.
Cole stepped inside.
Derek was in the executive conference room on the top floor.
When Cole entered, he found him seated beneath a wall displaying photographs of Bennett hotels from around the world.
Derek was sixty-three.
Gray-haired.
Normally immaculate.
Tonight his tie was loose.
Three folders sat on the table.
“You got here fast,” he said.
Cole stared at him.
“Were you expecting me?”
“I was expecting someone.”
Sarah entered.
Derek gave a tired laugh.
“Of course.”
Cole remained standing.
“Did you help Evan forge my signature?”
Derek leaned back.
“Hello to you too.”
“Answer.”
“No.”
“Did you give him access to corporate documents?”
Derek’s jaw moved.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Silence.
“Why?”
Derek looked out the window.
“Because Bennett Hospitality was supposed to be mine.”
Cole stared at him.
“What?”
“Not legally.”
Derek smiled bitterly.
“Don’t worry.”
He looked around the conference room.
“I just spent thirty years pretending I didn’t care that your father handed everything to you.”
Cole’s eyes narrowed.
“He owned the company.”
“And I built half of it.”
“So did hundreds of people.”
“But you inherited the chair.”
Cole pulled out a seat.
He sat.
“All right.”
Derek looked suspicious.
“All right what?”
“You’re angry.”
Cole folded his hands.
“Explain how that gives you the right to steal from Ava.”
Derek’s expression shifted.
“I never intended to hurt Ava.”
“That sentence has become very popular this week.”
“I mean it.”
“You gave Evan trust documents.”
“I gave him access.”
“Why?”
“Evan came to me two years ago.”
Derek rubbed his forehead.
“He knew I had investments that went bad.”
“How bad?”
“Bad enough.”
Sarah asked, “Was he blackmailing you?”
“At first.”
Derek laughed quietly.
“Then he offered me a solution.”
Cole stared at him.
“Steal from me.”
“Move money.”
“Steal.”
Derek looked down.
“Yes.”
“And the land?”
“That was Evan.”
“Paige?”
“A useful idiot.”
Sarah said sharply, “Careful.”
Derek shrugged.
“She wanted money and hated Caroline’s shadow. Evan figured she’d sign anything if he convinced her it would make the estate more hers.”
Cole felt sick.
“Did Graham Vane know?”
“No.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“What was the plan?”
Derek looked at him.
“Sell the parcel cheap.”
“Why cheap?”
“Vane Ridge would wire the purchase price into the designated closing account.”
Sarah understood first.
“You controlled the closing account.”
Derek nodded.
“Evan planned to reroute part of it.”
“How much?”
“About nine hundred thousand.”
Cole stared.
“You were going to steal trust property from an eight-year-old.”
“I didn’t know it was Ava’s at first.”
“When did you know?”
Derek’s silence answered.
Cole stood.
“You knew before closing.”
“Yes.”
“And continued.”
“Yes.”
Cole looked away.
That hurt worse than he expected.
Derek whispered, “I’m sorry.”
Cole turned.
“Don’t.”
“I am.”
“Caroline trusted you.”
Derek’s face tightened.
“I know.”
“Ava trusts you.”
“I know.”
“She made you a birthday card last year.”
Derek shut his eyes.
Cole’s voice cracked.
“You put it on your refrigerator.”
“I know.”
“So tell me something.”
Derek looked at him.
“When exactly did nine hundred thousand dollars become worth more than being the man she thought you were?”
Derek had no answer.
Sarah placed a recorder on the table.
“Then start telling us everything.”
For the next ninety minutes, he did.
Accounts.
Passwords.
Shell companies.
Fake invoices.
Evan had been the architect.
Derek had opened doors.
Paige had provided access to Cole’s home office and authentication devices.
None trusted the others.
Each planned to betray the others eventually.
It was almost pathetic.
Near two in the morning, Sarah received confirmation that federal authorities had detained Evan before he boarded a connecting flight out of Montreal.
Cole felt no triumph.
Only exhaustion.
By dawn, he was back at the estate.
He expected Ava to be asleep.
She wasn’t.
She sat at the kitchen island in pajamas while Ruth made pancakes.
Jasper’s old red halter lay beside her.
Cole entered.
Ava looked up.
“Did you stop the bad man?”
Cole loosened his tie.
“One of them.”
“Is Paige bad?”
The question stopped him.
Ruth turned down the stove.
Cole sat beside Ava.
“She made bad choices.”
“That means yes?”
“Sometimes people aren’t only one thing.”
Ava frowned.
“Paige could be nice.”
“I know.”
“She made my costume for school.”
“I remember.”
“She took me for ice cream when you missed my piano thing.”
Cole’s stomach tightened.
He had forgotten that.
Ava stared at her plate.
“Can somebody be nice and still hurt you?”
“Yes.”
“Does that mean the nice stuff was fake?”
Cole thought carefully.
“No.”
“Then what does it mean?”
“It means we judge people by all their choices, not only the ones we wish were true.”
Ava considered that.
“So I can miss her?”
Cole was surprised.
“You miss Paige?”
“A little.”
He put an arm around her.
“That’s okay.”
“She hurt Jasper.”
“Yes.”
“And Mommy’s things.”
“Yes.”
“And lied.”
“Yes.”
Ava leaned against him.
“But she used to make hot chocolate really good.”
Cole smiled sadly.
“Two things can be true.”
Ava nodded.
Then she looked toward the clock.
“Aren’t you going to work?”
The question struck him.
It was Monday morning.
Normally Cole would already be halfway to Washington.
“No.”
“Why?”
“I’m staying home.”
“For how long?”
“Today.”
Her face immediately dimmed.
Cole noticed.
“And tomorrow.”
She looked at him.
“And Wednesday.”
A smile began.
“And Thursday.”
“Daddy.”
“And Friday.”
“You don’t have to stay forever.”
“I know.”
“Your hotels might break.”
Ruth turned away to hide a smile.
Cole nodded solemnly.
“They might.”
Ava giggled.
“So what are we doing?”
“First, I have a meeting with Sarah here.”
Ava groaned.
“Then the veterinarian is coming for Jasper.”
Her expression brightened.
“And after that?”
Cole looked at Ruth.
She lifted one shoulder.
“You’re the father.”
Cole realized he had no idea what Ava’s Monday schedule was.
That realization would once have embarrassed him.
Now he asked.
“What do you normally do?”
“School.”
Cole blinked.
Ruth laughed.
Ava giggled again.
“Oh.”
Cole checked the clock.
“Right.”
“You forgot school?”
“I temporarily forgot school.”
“Can I stay home too?”
“No.”
“You’re ruining this.”
He smiled.
“I’ll drive you.”
Ava stopped.
“You?”
“Yes.”
“You know where it is?”
Cole stared.
Ava burst out laughing.
It was brutal.
And deserved.
At school, she made him walk her to the entrance.
Just before going inside, she turned.
“Daddy?”
“What?”
“Will you be home when I get back?”
“Yes.”
“Promise?”
Cole crouched.
“Promise.”
Ava searched his face.
Then she kissed his cheek.
As she ran toward the doors, Cole’s phone buzzed.
Sarah.
He answered.
“We got the emergency injunction.”
Cole exhaled.
“The bulldozers?”
“Stopped.”
“And the deed?”
“Temporary restraining order prevents recording or construction while fraud is litigated.”
Cole looked across the school parking lot.
“So the hill is safe?”
“For now.”
“For now isn’t enough.”
“I know.”
Sarah paused.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Graham Vane wants to meet.”
“Why?”
“He says he has information we need.”
“About Paige?”
“No.”
“Evan?”
“Partly.”
Cole waited.
Sarah’s voice lowered.
“Apparently Vane Ridge wasn’t the first company offered Ava’s land.”
Cole went cold.
“How many?”
“Seven.”
“And one of them made an offer nearly twice what Paige accepted.”
Cole stared ahead.
“Why would she reject it?”
May you like
Sarah’s answer changed everything.
“Because that company wanted to preserve the oak grove.”
