Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN MY FATHER FEAREDBy the time the first patrol car stopped in front of the house, another contraction had folded me almost in half.
I gripped the stone column beside the porch while an officer ran toward me.
“Ma’am, don’t move.”
“My baby—”
“Ambulance is two minutes out.”
Behind me, my father suddenly became the charming Charles Baldwin the rest of the world knew.
“I’m her father,” he said. “This is a family misunderstanding.”
Officer Ramirez looked from my wet dress to the scattered belongings across the porch.
Then to my hair, which was still tangled where Charles had pulled it.
“What misunderstanding?”
“My daughter is emotionally unstable. Her husband recently passed away.”
Charles lowered his voice sympathetically.
“She’s grieving.”
I nearly laughed.
It was his favorite weapon.
Whenever Charles hurt someone, he became reasonable.
The victim became hysterical.
Courtney came forward.
“She attacked us first.”
I stared at her.
“You were laughing while he dragged me outside.”
“That’s not true.”
“There are cameras.”
Courtney glanced toward the doorbell camera.
Her face changed.
Only for a second.
But Officer Ramirez noticed.
“Everybody stay where you are.”
Charles stepped toward him.
“I’m sure we can resolve this without turning it into a spectacle.”
Ramirez looked at him coldly.
“Sir, back up.”
The ambulance arrived.
Paramedics moved me onto a stretcher while another officer entered the house.
Then a black Lincoln stopped behind the patrol cars.
The rear door opened.
A woman in her early sixties stepped out wearing a charcoal suit and carrying a leather briefcase.
She had silver hair, sharp eyes, and the controlled expression of someone who had spent her entire career walking into rooms where powerful men expected her to be intimidated.
Charles whispered something I had never heard from him before.
“Oh, God.”
Margaret Haines walked directly toward him.
“Charles.”
“Margaret.”
“No hug?”
His jaw tightened.
“Why are you here?”
She looked at me on the stretcher.
“Because Lucas Gallagher hired me.”
I raised my head.
“You knew Lucas?”
“For twelve years.”
Margaret came to my side.
“I’m his estate attorney.”
I blinked.
Lucas had told me his attorney was “Maggie.”
I had pictured someone younger.
Margaret squeezed my hand.
“He wanted you protected.”
Charles scoffed.
“From what?”
Margaret turned.
“You.”
Silence.
Even the paramedic stopped for half a second.
Charles’s face hardened.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I know precisely what I’m talking about.”
She removed a folder from her briefcase.
“I also know you entered this property this morning using a copied emergency key after Evelyn explicitly declined your request to stay here.”
Charles stared at me.
My stomach dropped.
Two nights earlier, he had asked whether he and Courtney could “help” by staying in the guest room.
I had said no.
Apparently that hadn’t mattered.
Margaret continued.
“And according to the security system, at 7:14 a.m., the office safe was opened.”
My father went pale.
“What?”
“The safe,” Margaret repeated. “Lucas’s safe.”
I looked at the house.
Charles said quickly, “I was securing important documents.”
“Which ones?”
“Family records.”
“Name one.”
He didn’t answer.
Margaret turned toward Officer Ramirez.
“Officer, I represent Mrs. Gallagher and the Gallagher estate. We have reason to believe Mr. Baldwin attempted to remove corporate documents belonging to Gallagher Infrastructure and several related entities.”
Courtney grabbed Charles’s sleeve.
“Corporate?”
Charles whispered, “Shut up.”
That was when I understood something.
Courtney didn’t know.
Whatever my father had expected to find in Lucas’s study, he hadn’t told her everything.
The paramedics began rolling me toward the ambulance.
I reached for Margaret’s hand.
“What did Lucas leave?”
She looked down at me.
“Enough to make today very inconvenient for your father.”
That was not comforting.
“What does that mean?”
“It means the house belongs to you outright.”
Charles shouted from the porch.
“She hasn’t inherited anything yet!”
Margaret turned.
“Incorrect.”
“She’s not the sole beneficiary.”
“Correct.”
His confidence returned.
I saw it instantly.
“There,” he said. “You see?”
Margaret almost smiled.
“You might want to let me finish.”
She walked closer to him.
“Evelyn is not merely a beneficiary of Lucas’s estate.”
My father’s eyes narrowed.
“She is the controlling trustee.”
The porch went silent.
I stared at her.
“What?”
Margaret looked at me.
“Lucas reorganized his holdings eighteen months ago.”
Charles swallowed.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“That company belonged to Lucas.”
“It still does, legally speaking, through the Gallagher Family Trust.”
Margaret opened the folder.
“Evelyn controls fifty-one percent of the voting interest.”
The color disappeared from Charles’s face.
For years, I had worked in nonprofit accounting.
I had never cared about Lucas’s company beyond whether he came home for dinner.
I knew he was successful.
I knew we were comfortable.
I did not know he had made me controlling trustee of anything.
Margaret continued.
“Your unborn daughter is the secondary beneficiary.”
Courtney whispered, “How much is it worth?”
Margaret ignored her.
Charles did not.
His eyes flicked toward Courtney.
And I understood.
That was what this had always been about.
Not the house.
Not me.
The company.
An officer stepped out carrying Lucas’s laptop inside an evidence bag.
“Found this in the gentleman’s vehicle.”
My father’s head snapped around.
My blood turned cold.
“You took it?”
Charles said nothing.
The officer held up another bag.
“Also found three external drives and a folder containing corporate seals.”
Margaret’s expression changed.
For the first time, her calm disappeared.
“What seals?”
“Gallagher Infrastructure. Gallagher Development. North River Holdings.”
Margaret turned slowly toward my father.
“You opened the bottom safe.”
Charles said nothing.
She stared at him.
“Lucas never told you that combination.”
My father’s eyes moved toward me.
That look told Margaret everything.
“You had someone access the office before today.”
“No.”
“Charles.”
“You can’t prove that.”
Margaret closed the folder.
“I suspect we’re about to.”
The ambulance doors opened.
Another contraction hit me.
I cried out.
Margaret climbed halfway inside.
“Go with them,” she told the paramedic. “I’ll meet you at St. Joseph’s.”
I caught her wrist.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
For a moment she hesitated.
Then she lowered her voice.
“Lucas believed someone had been using Gallagher companies to guarantee private loans.”
“What kind of loans?”
“Large ones.”
“How large?”
“Evelyn, we’ll discuss this after your doctors examine you.”
“How large?”
Margaret looked toward my father.
“Forty-two million dollars.”
Everything inside me went cold.
“My father?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Charles heard.
“You know nothing!”
Margaret stepped down from the ambulance.
“You’re right.”
She looked toward the evidence bags.
“But we’re going to.”
The doors closed.
As the ambulance pulled away, I saw my father standing on the porch of my house.
For the first time in my life, Charles Baldwin didn’t look powerful.
May you like
He looked trapped.
And beside him, Courtney was no longer laughing.
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