Chapter 5 - The Phantom Accusation
The air in the conference room became suffocatingly heavy. I looked back and forth between Denise and my father, confusion swirling with anxiety.
"What medical trust, Dad?" I asked, my voice trembling. "Mom died in 2018 after her battle with cancer. What could Derek possibly have found?"
Dad took a deep breath, resting his hands flat on the table. "When your mother was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer, her treatment costs were astronomical. I worked overtime, took out secondary mortgages, and managed a private healthcare trust set up by her family to ensure she had the best care possible. After she passed, there was about sixty thousand dollars left in that trust. Under the terms of the trust, that money was legally designated to go toward Lily’s future college education."
"So where does Derek come into this?" I pressed.
"Two years ago," Dad continued, "when you and Derek were getting serious, he volunteered to help me digitally organize your mother’s estate tax archives. I gave him password access to the cloud storage drive containing those old trust receipts. What he didn't realize is that he only saw half the documents."
Denise picked up her phone and dialed a number. "Derek and Patricia are preparing to file a false petition with the probate court claiming Richard embezzled funds from his late wife’s estate trust instead of saving it for Lily. They want to leak it to the press to ruin Richard’s reputation in Columbus and force us into a quiet financial settlement."
My father worked as a respected chief structural engineer for the city of Columbus. A public scandal involving allegations of stealing from his deceased wife’s medical trust could instantly freeze his pension and ruin his thirty-year career.
"It’s a classic blackmail strategy," Denise said, putting her phone on speaker as her investigator answered. "They are desperate because their cash flow is frozen. They’re holding a gun to your family’s honor."
"Let them try," Dad said, standing up. "Denise, pull up the physical vault files from the bank down the street. The original signed receipts from the trust corporate trustee are sealed in my safe deposit box. Every single dollar transferred out of that account went directly to the hospital billing department and the designated college fund account."
My father turned to me, placing a hand gently on my shoulder. "Derek thinks everyone hides dirty secrets because he lives his life in the mud, Claire. He forgot that some people live with absolute integrity. We aren't negotiating with him. We’re going to hit back harder."
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Twenty minutes later, Denise’s investigator confirmed that Derek’s attorney had just submitted an unverified tip to a local news desk.
"They’ve taken the bait," Denise smiled grimly. "They just published false allegations in writing. That’s not just blackmail anymore, Claire. That’s formal, actionable libel."
