Chapter 5 - An Apology With a PriceDaniel found Emily on Monday afternoon.
He did not arrive with security guards, assistants, or a lawyer.
He drove himself to the modest duplex where she lived with her father, parked across the street, and sat behind the steering wheel for several minutes.
He was accustomed to walking into rooms where people stood when he entered.
Now he was afraid of knocking on an ordinary front door.
When Emily finally answered, she stared at him without speaking.
The bruise along her cheek had darkened.
Daniel felt sick.
"Miss Reyes."
Her expression closed.
"What do you want?"
"I came to apologize."
She folded her arms.
"Then apologize."
He had rehearsed several explanations during the drive.
He abandoned them.
"I struck you. I had no right to do that. I was wrong."
Emily watched him.
"Yes," she said. "You were."
Daniel swallowed.
"Liam told me what happened. He said you saved him from a catering trolley."
"I did."
"He said Victoria knocked away his flowers."
"She did that too."
Daniel looked down.
"I've ordered the incident report withdrawn."
Emily's expression changed.
"Withdrawn?"
"It was false."
"That's good. Will you tell the guests?"
He hesitated.
"Several people have already contacted me. I'm trying to determine the best way to address it."
Emily gave a small, bitter laugh.
"The best way?"
"I don't want to make a public statement before we establish the facts."
"You already made a public accusation."
Daniel flinched.
Emily stepped outside, closing the door behind her.
"You accused me in front of an entire room. You hit me before I finished one sentence. Now you want to investigate whether I'm telling the truth?"
"You're right."
"Then why are you waiting?"
He had no answer that would satisfy her.
Because shareholders would ask questions.
Because investors disliked scandal.
Because Victoria would accuse him of betraying his family.
Because he had spent years protecting the Mercer name and still instinctively reached for it when frightened.
All of those reasons suddenly sounded shameful.
Emily studied him.
"Your company wants me to sign a confession."
Daniel raised his head.
"What?"
She handed him a printed copy of the agreement.
He scanned the first page, then the second.
By the fourth page, his expression had hardened.
"I didn't authorize this."
"Someone did."
He saw the executive assistant's name.
Victoria's office.
Again.
Daniel folded the pages carefully.
"I'll make sure this is withdrawn."
Emily shook her head.
"Mr. Mercer, you keep promising to correct things privately. Meanwhile, the people who lied about me are still making decisions."
Daniel looked toward the house.
Through the front window, he could see Gabriel seated in a chair.
"Your father worked for Aster House."
Emily went still.
"How do you know?"
"I checked your employment history."
"Then you probably know what your company did to him."
"I know he was dismissed following an internal audit."
"That's the version your company wrote."
Daniel glanced at the document in his hands.
"What's the version they didn't write?"
Emily hesitated.
For years, she had dreamed of confronting someone with the power to reopen Gabriel's case.
Now the chief executive stood before her.
But she could not forget his hand striking her face.
She reached into her bag and removed a photocopied invoice.
It bore the North Quay Facilities logo.
"This was supposedly approved by my father," she said. "Look at the authorization date."
Daniel studied the page.
October 11, 2023.
"Gabriel was suspended on October 6," Emily continued. "His system access was revoked that morning."
Daniel frowned.
"The approval could have been entered retroactively."
"Exactly. By someone who still had access."
He looked at the amount.
$418,700.
The payment was described as emergency structural remediation.
"Was the work completed?"
"No."
"How do you know?"
"Because the location listed here is a mechanical room that doesn't exist."
Daniel looked up sharply.
Emily held his gaze.
"My father noticed that invoice. A week later, he was accused of creating it."
Daniel stared at the paper.
His company controlled more than $180 million in hospitality assets.
He spent his days reviewing budgets, contracts, and refinancing arrangements.
Yet this one invoice suddenly seemed more dangerous than any financial report on his desk.
"Where did you get this?"
"My father kept his own records."
"Why didn't he challenge it?"
"He tried. Your sister oversaw the investigation."
Daniel said nothing.
Emily continued.
"He lost his job. Then he lost his reputation. My mother had died years before, so there was nobody else to help him. We sold our house to pay expenses while his health got worse."
Daniel looked through the window again.
Gabriel was watching them.
For the first time, Daniel understood that the woman he had slapped was not simply a stranger his family had mistreated.
She had entered Aster House carrying years of unanswered questions.
And those questions led directly to Victoria.
"I want to review everything," Daniel said.
Emily shook her head.
"No."
He blinked.
"No?"
"You don't get to take our evidence into your office and decide which parts your family should hear."
"Then what do you want?"
"A real investigation. Independent of Victoria. Independent of your company's lawyers."
Daniel considered her request.
It would be expensive.
It would alarm investors.
It could uncover misconduct inside the company he had inherited from his father.
But Emily was watching him, waiting to see whether he would choose appearances again.
"I'll retain outside counsel," he said.
"And the slap?"
Daniel looked at her bruise.
"I'll accept whatever consequences follow."
Emily studied his face for a long moment.
Then she opened the door.
"My father has something you should see."
Gabriel waited in the living room with an old metal file box resting beside his chair.
He did not rise when Daniel entered.
Instead, he opened the box and removed a folded maintenance report.
On the cover was an inspection date from October 2023.
Below it appeared the signatures of three senior employees.
One belonged to Victoria Mercer.
Another belonged to Gabriel Reyes.
The third belonged to Daniel himself.
Gabriel placed the report on the coffee table.
"Mr. Mercer," he said quietly, "that is the document your sister used to destroy my career."
May you like
Daniel stared at his signature.
He had never seen the report before.
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