Chapter 7 - THE SECRET HIS FATHER LEFT BEHIND
Daniel stared at Vanessa.
“My father is dead.”
“I know.”
“Then try again.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“Northstar was created under a trust controlled by Charles Harrison.”
“My father died six years ago.”
“The trust didn’t.”
Daniel felt the floor shift beneath him.
“You’re lying.”
“I wish I were.”
“Why would my father create a media shell company?”
“He didn’t create it for media.”
“What was it for?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“Private investigations.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“Into what?”
“People.”
“Which people?”
Vanessa looked at him.
“Anyone he thought could threaten the Harrison family.”
Daniel suddenly remembered his father’s obsession with information.
Competitors.
Employees.
Political donors.
Potential spouses.
Daniel’s stomach turned.
“Amy?”
Vanessa said nothing.
“Did he investigate Amy?”
“Yes.”
Daniel stepped back.
Amy had met his father eight years earlier.
Charles Harrison had been polite.
Reserved.
He had told Daniel Amy was “refreshingly normal.”
Daniel had thought it was approval.
Now the phrase sounded sinister.
“What did he find?”
“Nothing damaging.”
“Then why does Northstar still exist?”
“After your father died, the trust passed to a private administrator.”
“Who?”
Vanessa looked frightened.
“Margaret.”
Daniel stopped.
“No.”
“She may not know everything being done through it.”
“You’re telling me my mother controls the company that paid someone to follow Amy?”
“I’m telling you her signature authority controls the trust.”
Daniel immediately called Margaret.
She answered.
“Daniel?”
“Come to my office.”
“I’m at home.”
“Now.”
His tone silenced her.
Twenty-five minutes later, Margaret entered.
Vanessa remained seated.
The moment Margaret saw her, she frowned.
“What is she doing here?”
Daniel pushed documents across the desk.
“Do you control the Charles Harrison Protective Trust?”
Margaret’s face changed.
Not much.
Enough.
Daniel felt sick.
“You do.”
Margaret sat slowly.
“Your father created it.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Vanessa.”
Margaret turned toward her.
“You had no authority to disclose—”
Daniel slammed his palm against the desk.
Both women froze.
“My pregnant wife is hiding because someone tracked her to a medical clinic. I am finished hearing about authority.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“What was the trust for?”
“Your father believed certain threats needed to be handled discreetly.”
“Meaning?”
“Background checks. Security. Reputation management.”
“Spying.”
“Sometimes.”
“On Amy?”
Margaret looked away.
Daniel’s anger sharpened.
“Answer me.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Before you proposed.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You investigated the woman I loved?”
“Your father did.”
“And after he died?”
Margaret did not answer.
Daniel understood.
“You kept it going.”
“I inherited responsibility for protecting the family.”
“From Amy?”
“No.”
“Then why was she tracked?”
“I didn’t authorize that.”
“Someone used your trust.”
Margaret went pale.
“I didn’t.”
Vanessa finally spoke.
“There are three administrators.”
Daniel turned.
“Who?”
Margaret looked suddenly afraid.
Vanessa answered.
“Margaret. The family attorney, Howard Pike.”
“And?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“Your brother.”
Daniel felt the words strike his chest.
“Michael?”
Margaret stood.
“Vanessa.”
Daniel stared at his mother.
“My brother has access?”
Michael Harrison had left New York five years earlier.
At least that was the public story.
After a brutal argument with Charles shortly before Charles died, Michael moved to Switzerland and cut contact with most of the family.
Daniel had not spoken to him in nearly two years.
“He was never removed from the trust,” Margaret admitted.
“Why?”
“Your father’s instructions.”
“What does Michael have to do with Amy?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel laughed in disbelief.
“Everyone keeps saying they don’t know while somehow knowing enough to destroy my marriage.”
Margaret flinched.
Across the country, Amy sat at Ruth’s kitchen table speaking to a divorce attorney in New York.
Samantha Reed had been recommended by Claire.
“You’re seventeen weeks pregnant?”
“Eighteen tomorrow.”
“And you intend to remain separated?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to file immediately?”
Amy stared at the ocean.
“I don’t know.”
“That’s okay.”
“I don’t want money.”
Samantha smiled slightly.
“Everyone says that when they’re hurt.”
“I have my own savings.”
“You also spent seven years contributing to a marriage while your husband built a company. Financial protection is not revenge.”
Amy nodded.
“I’m more concerned about custody.”
“Has Daniel threatened you?”
“No.”
“Has he demanded your location?”
“No.”
“Has he attempted to freeze accounts?”
“No.”
“Has he used security to trace you?”
“Apparently he ordered them not to.”
Samantha paused.
“That is relevant.”
Amy looked down.
“I don’t want to hate him.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I almost wish I did.”
“That would be easier.”
“Yes.”
Samantha leaned closer to the camera.
“You can love someone and still decide they’re not safe for your heart.”
Amy swallowed.
Before she could answer, someone knocked downstairs.
Ruth called up.
“Package!”
Amy froze.
Packages frightened her now.
Ruth brought it upstairs.
No sender.
Inside was a thick folder.
Amy opened it.
Photographs.
Reports.
Copies of emails.
Her name appeared everywhere.
AMY BENNETT — SUBJECT PROFILE
Her maiden name.
The first report was dated eight years earlier.
Before Daniel proposed.
Someone had investigated her parents.
Her student debt.
Former boyfriends.
College disciplinary history.
Medical records.
Employment.
Friends.
Amy’s hands began shaking.
Then she found later files.
Two years into the marriage.
Four years.
Six years.
Someone had continued monitoring her.
One page documented a lunch she had with Claire.
Another noted the day she visited a fertility specialist alone.
Amy stopped breathing.
Daniel had never known about that appointment.
She had gone after months of failed attempts to become pregnant.
She had cried in her car afterward.
Someone had watched.
At the bottom of the page were initials.
M.H.
Michael Harrison?
Margaret Harrison?
Amy did not know.
Then she found a recent page.
Three months earlier.
Subject may be pregnant. Confirmation pending.
Amy covered her mouth.
Someone had known before Daniel.
Another sheet contained an instruction.
If pregnancy confirmed, activate contingency review.
Below it:
Priority: lineage verification.
Amy stared at the words.
Lineage verification.
Her child.
They were investigating her baby.
She immediately called Samantha.
“I need you to do something.”
“What?”
“I want an emergency legal order protecting my medical information.”
“What happened?”
Amy held the report toward the camera.
Samantha read.
Her expression changed.
“Where did you get this?”
“It was delivered anonymously.”
“Do not touch anything else.”
Amy’s phone rang.
Daniel.
She almost rejected it.
Then answered.
Neither spoke.
Finally Daniel said, “Amy, I learned something about my family.”
Amy stared at the file.
“So did I.”
Daniel went silent.
“What did you receive?”
“Eight years of surveillance.”
His breathing changed.
“Amy.”
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“Your family investigated me before we married.”
“I just found out.”
“They kept doing it.”
“I know.”
“You know?”
“I found out today.”
Amy laughed through tears.
“There’s a report about my fertility doctor.”
Daniel went silent.
“There’s a report about my pregnancy.”
His voice dropped.
“What?”
“Someone knew before you did.”
Daniel closed his eyes in New York.
Amy continued.
“And apparently your family wants ‘lineage verification.’”
Daniel’s face drained of color.
“No.”
“That’s what it says.”
“Amy, listen to me.”
“I spent years believing I wasn’t enough for you.”
Her voice cracked.
“Now I find out your family was literally investigating whether I was good enough to carry your child.”
“That was never me.”
“You were never there enough for me to know what was you.”
The sentence destroyed him.
Daniel had no answer.
Amy whispered, “I need you to stay away.”
“I will.”
“If anyone from your family comes near me—”
“They won’t.”
“You can’t promise that.”
Daniel looked through the glass wall of his office.
At his mother.
At Vanessa.
At the entire empire bearing his surname.
“No,” he said.
“I can’t.”
May you like
Then he made the first decision of his life that placed Amy above the Harrison name.
“But I can destroy whatever I have to destroy to make sure they never touch you again.”
