Part 3A Two Hundred Million Dollar Mistake

“However,” the assistant continued, “Vesper actually traveled back to the States yesterday. She told me she would email the final execution copies to you by tonight.”

“I’ll try to reach her and have her call you. Goodbye.”

The line went dead.

Tyler gripped his phone, his head turning slowly toward me.

Pamela was the first to break the silence. “Ha!” She pointed a manicured nail at me. “Robert, did you hear that? She’s a liar! She’s not Vesper. She’s just trying to sabotage Tyler’s big moment!”

My father’s expression shifted from confusion to pure, unadulterated rage.

Tyler stepped forward, looming over me. “Cassie, you were so sure of yourself. You knew about the project details... wait. Did you sneak into my office? Did you read my files on my computer?”

The more he talked, the more he convinced himself. “That has to be it! I didn't tell anyone the specifics, but you knew them! You were trying to steal corporate secrets, weren’t you?”

Pamela shrieked, “Robert! She was going to steal the company and sell it out from under us!”

It was a well-rehearsed play. I felt nothing but a weary sense of the absurd.

My father’s face turned a violent shade of purple. “You ungrateful brat!”

He kicked me squarely in the stomach.

I collapsed, my back hitting the sharp edge of the coffee table. The world went black for a second.

“You want to steal from me?”

Another kick caught me in the ribs. I curled into a ball, shielding my head. He didn't stop. He kicked my back, my legs, my arms.

Tyler watched from the sidelines, a faint smile on his lips. Pamela dabs her eyes, whispering, “Robert, stop... she’s learned her lesson... even if she is a thief...”

Her eyes were bright with joy.

My father finally stopped, panting, his chest heaving.

“You’re pathetic!” he spat. “You’re a woman—what do you want? To inherit the company? You’re not fit for it! I’ve raised you for twenty-seven years, and this is how you repay me?”

I tasted copper in my mouth. I looked up at him, wiping the blood from my lip. “Dad,” I said, my voice eerily calm. “Is this even your company to give?”

“This company belonged to the Millers. It was my mother’s and my grandfather’s. You were just the man who married in.”

His face contorted. He grabbed a heavy ceramic vase from the table and hurled it at me. I couldn't move fast enough. It shattered against the wall behind me, a shard slicing across my cheek.

“The company is Wainwright now!” he roared. “I changed the name! Your mother is dead, your grandfather is dead, and this company belongs to the Wainwright men!”

I lay on the floor, the metallic scent of blood filling my nose. I saw Pamela looking down at me from her height on the sofa.

“Cassie, I know you hate me. But stealing? If word gets out, you’ll never work in this town again.” She sighed and stood up. “Robert, lock her away. She needs to think about what she’s done.”

“One last warning,” I croaked. “If you want to save this deal, if you want to save this company, take that laptop to a data recovery specialist right now. If you wait, it’s over.”

My father glanced at Pamela. Her face turned red with fury.

“You’re still lying!” She lunged for the broken laptop on the table. She picked it up and slammed it onto the hardwood floor with all her might.

CRACK.

The casing split. She didn’t stop. she stomped on it until the screen was a spiderweb of glass and the internal components were crushed.

I watched the debris scatter. The last bit of loyalty I held for that house finally snapped.