Chapter 4 - The Inside Man
Marcus scrambled backward across the hardwood floor, staring at his father as if the man had just grown a second head.
"Dad? What are you talking about? What plan?" Marcus shrieked, his voice breaking in panic.
Richard calmly buttoned his suit jacket and turned to look down at his son with utter contempt.
"Did you honestly think I didn't know what you did eight years ago, Marcus?" Richard asked, his voice laced with disappointment.
"You broke the heart of a good woman, abandoned your own flesh and blood, and thought I would just look the other way."
Patricia stopped crying and stared at her husband in absolute shock.
"Richard, what have you done?" she whispered, clutching her pearl necklace.
"I did what a real parent is supposed to do," Richard replied coldly to his wife.
He turned back to me, and the warmth returned to his eyes as he looked down at his four grandchildren.
"When I found out Patricia helped you hide the pregnancy, I hired a private investigator to track Kesha down," Richard explained to the room.
"I saw how hard she was struggling, working three jobs just to keep a roof over these beautiful babies."
I placed a gentle hand on Richard's arm, feeling a deep wave of gratitude for the man who had saved my life.
"Richard anonymously provided the seed funding for my very first investment firm," I revealed to Marcus.
Marcus gasped, his eyes darting between me and his father in complete disbelief.
"You gave her my inheritance?" Marcus yelled, finally connecting the dots.
"I invested my money in someone with actual talent, drive, and moral integrity," Richard corrected him sharply.
"Kesha turned that small loan into a billion-dollar empire, while you ran my tech company into the ground with your lazy, arrogant management."
Marcus covered his ears, unwilling to hear how completely he had been outplayed.
He had spent the last eight years living a lie, believing he was a self-made genius while his father secretly plotted his downfall.
"I am officially stepping down as CEO of Reynolds Enterprise, and I have sold my controlling shares to Kesha," Richard announced formally.
Patricia gasped loudly, realizing that their lavish lifestyle was officially at an end.
"You can't do this to your own family!" Patricia cried, stepping toward her husband.
"You stopped being my family the day you helped this coward abandon his children," Richard shot back without hesitation.
I looked at Marcus, who was now weeping openly on the floor, stripped of his pride, his money, and his future.
The revenge I had dreamed of for eight long years was finally complete, and it tasted sweeter than I could have ever imagined.
"Come on, kids, let's go home," I said softly, turning toward the door.
But just as we reached the entryway, the front door burst open, letting in a massive gust of freezing wind.
Ashley stood in the doorway, shivering, her makeup smeared, and clutching a thick manila envelope against her chest.
"I didn't leave," Ashley said, panting heavily as she locked eyes with me.
She marched past me, walked right up to Marcus, and threw the heavy envelope directly at his face.
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"If you are going to burn him, Kesha, you are going to need these," Ashley declared with a vicious smile.
"That is a complete record of the five million dollars Marcus stole from the local cartel to cover his gambling debts."
