The responsibility felt too large for my tired hands.
“I don’t know how to fight him,” I admitted.
Russell turned back. “Good. Fighting him is not the first step. Seeing clearly is.”
Those words stayed with me while Abigail showed me to a guest room near the back of the residence. The room had cream walls, a writing desk, and a vase of white tulips on the nightstand. It was the nicest place I had ever stayed alone.
I should have slept.
Instead, I sat on the edge of the bed and opened my laptop.
Victor had erased my accounts, but he had forgotten my old email. The Bellamy Freight address, dormant for years, still existed because I had once paid for the domain renewal myself. I logged in expecting spam and ghosts.
There were both.
Then I searched Victor’s name.
Nothing.
Langford.
Nothing.
I searched my father’s attorney, Miles Cresswell.
One result appeared.
A message from fourteen years ago, sent two days before my wedding, never opened.
My hands went numb.
Subject: For Lauren only.
I clicked it.
Lauren,
Your father asked me to send this if he could not speak with you himself. I regret the timing, but I believe delay would be worse. Please do not sign any transfer documents related to Bellamy Freight until we meet. Your father had concerns regarding Victor Langford’s access to company records and certain loan instruments.
I have tried reaching you by phone. Victor informed my office you were unavailable and requested that all legal correspondence go through him as your fiancé. I refused.
Call me immediately.
Miles Cresswell
Beneath the message was an attachment.
Bellamy_Prelim_Findings.pdf.
My eyes blurred.
Victor had told me Miles retired after my father died. He said the attorney had mishandled things, that speaking to him would only reopen wounds and delay closure. I had believed him because grief had made the world muffled, and Victor spoke loudly enough to become the only clear sound.
I downloaded the attachment.
The report was twenty-seven pages. I read the first three and had to stand up because sitting still became impossible.
Unauthorized access.
Emergency bridge loans.
Collateral assignments.