No one asked him to.
He simply could not continue.
Silence filled Richard’s house.
Natalie stood near the sofa.
Forty people looked at her.
Not one person said a word.
Lily stared at her father.
Daniel could barely meet her eyes.
The broken crystal between them suddenly seemed irrelevant.
Something much larger had shattered.
He crouched.
“Lily.”
She stepped backward.
The movement was tiny.
It destroyed him.
“Baby.”
Her chin trembled.
“You didn’t believe me.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“No.”
“You told me to stop lying.”
“I know.”
“I wasn’t.”
“I know.”
She started crying again.
Daniel did not reach for her this time.
Not until she moved first.
After several seconds, Lily stepped forward.
He opened his arms.
She fell into them.
“I’m sorry.”
Daniel’s voice cracked.
“I am so sorry.”
Lily buried her face against his shoulder.
Richard turned toward Natalie.
“Give me the envelope.”
She stared.
No one could see the exact moment she decided resistance was useless.
But something in her posture collapsed.
She opened the handbag.
Removed a brown legal envelope.
Placed it on the table.
Richard did not touch it.
“George.”
His friend understood.
He walked over and stood beside it.
A witness.
Richard then looked at Daniel.
“Call Jonathan.”
Daniel knew exactly who he meant.
Jonathan Reed had been Richard’s attorney for thirty-two years.
He was also trustee of several Hayes family trusts.
Daniel removed his phone.
Natalie spoke.
“You’re overreacting.”
Everyone stared at her.
She seemed to hear herself.
“I mean—”
Richard’s voice stopped her.
“I suggest you use the next few minutes carefully.”
Natalie’s eyes filled.
“This was not what it looked like.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“You’re going to say that?”
“The document isn’t yours.”
Richard’s expression changed.
“What?”
Natalie looked toward the envelope.
“I didn’t steal it.”
“Whose is it?”
She hesitated.
Daniel suddenly remembered Lily’s accusation.
The study.
The envelope.
Why?
He looked at his father.
“What’s inside?”
Richard did not answer.
That frightened him.
“Dad.”
Richard stared at the brown envelope.
“Something I signed this morning.”
Natalie whispered, “Richard.”
The old man looked at her.
“What did you think was in it?”
No answer.
Richard’s face hardened.
“You knew.”
Daniel stood.
“Knew what?”
His father slowly exhaled.
“The family trust.”
Daniel frowned.
“What about it?”
Richard looked at Lily.
Then at his son.
“I changed it.”
Natalie’s shoulders tightened.
Daniel noticed.
“Changed what?”
Richard had founded Hayes Engineering forty-six years earlier.
The company had started in a rented warehouse building components for agricultural machinery and eventually grew into an international manufacturer worth hundreds of millions.
Daniel currently served as president.