Chapter 5 - Emily’s Loyalties Put to the Test
At six o'clock the following morning, my secondary phone—the one with the private direct line known only to my wife—began to ring.
I stepped out onto the screened back porch of the cottage, watching the morning mist rise off the calm lake water, and answered.
"Emily?"
"Michael! Thank God you picked up!" Emily’s voice was frantic, breathless, and laced with near-hysterical panic. "What is happening back home? I just woke up to twenty-seven voicemails from Daniel and Melissa! They’re telling me that you kidnapped Dad from St. Joseph, that you’ve locked them out of the family bank accounts, and that Daniel is at the Liberty police precinct filing a missing persons and elder endangerment report against you!"
I took a slow, deep breath, maintaining absolute composure. "Emily, listen to me very carefully. Take a breath and listen."
The line went quiet for three seconds, save for her ragged breathing. "Okay. I'm listening."
"Where are you right now?"
"In my hotel room in Denver. My conference wraps at noon. I booked a two-fifteen flight home."
"Good," I said firmly. "First question: did you know anything about an emergency asset transfer agreement or a notary meeting scheduled at your dad’s house yesterday?"
"What? What are you talking about? No! Melissa told me Dad wasn't being discharged until Saturday! She said the doctors wanted him on observation for another four days!"
A wave of profound relief washed over me. Emily was completely innocent. Her siblings had deliberately lied to her about the discharge date to ensure she remained nine hundred miles away while they executed their ambush.
"Emily," I said, my voice dropping into a gentle, serious tone. "Your brother and sister have been robbing your father blind. While Dad was under general anesthesia during his bypass surgery, Daniel drained nearly a hundred thousand dollars from his liquid reserves. When I picked Dad up from the hospital, he begged me not to take him home because Melissa had arranged a notary to force him into signing over full corporate control while he was drugged."
"Oh my God..." Emily gasped. Her voice broke, and I could hear her collapsing onto the hotel bed. "Oh God, Michael... tell me you’re joking. Please tell me you’re joking."
"I have the bank statements in my hand, Emily. I have the forensic logs. We went straight to Franklin Shaw’s office yesterday. Franklin revoked Daniel’s power of attorney and frozen every single account. That's why Daniel is screaming about kidnapping—because his money pipeline has been shut off."
"Is Dad okay?" she sobbed. "Where is he? Is he safe?"
"He's with me at the Timberline cottage. He’s safe, he’s taking his medication, and his heart is stable."
"Let me speak to him," she pleaded.
I walked back into the master bedroom and handed the handset to Robert.
"Emmy," Robert said softly.
The moment he spoke her childhood nickname, Emily’s sobs echoed through the earpiece. For ten minutes, father and daughter spoke in hushed, intimate tones. Robert laid out the entire timeline—the stolen funds, Melissa’s hallway phone call, the embezzlement ledgers.
By the time Robert handed the phone back to me, Emily’s tears had completely vanished. In their place was the icy, lethal fury of a woman who had realized her siblings had tried to murder her father’s legacy.
"Michael," Emily said, her tone razor-sharp. "I'm checking out of the hotel right now and getting on the morning standby flight. I’ll land at KCI at eleven-thirty."
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"Don't go to our house, and don't go to the Liberty property," I warned her. "Daniel and Melissa are patrolling like rabid dogs."
"I'm not going to either," Emily said coldly. "I'm taking an Uber straight to Franklin Shaw’s office. Tell Franklin to prepare the full corporate removal resolutions. My brother and sister are about to learn what happens when you cross this family."
