“Forgive me, daughter,” he said, reaching out to me. “But I needed the traitor to believe he had won.”
And before I could hug him, I realized that his return was just the beginning of a war that could destroy us all.
PART 3
I threw myself into his arms and pounded his chest with my fists before hugging him desperately.
“You made me believe you were dead!” I screamed as the pain of the past days washed over me. “I knelt before an empty urn, Dad, while Gavin took everything from me, and his mother dragged me by the hair to throw me out into the street.”
Ross Albright made no attempt to defend himself. He let me cry until I could not stand up anymore, and then he gently sat me down in front of him.
“The accident was an operation authorized by a special unit of the federal government,” he explained, holding my hands. “I had provided evidence of money laundering, bribery, and embezzlement, and when we confirmed that the brakes had been tampered with, I switched vehicles before leaving, and the empty car was remotely driven to a cordoned-off area.”
“And was I also part of this operation?” I asked, looking at him with hurt in my eyes.
His face hardened with deep pain.
“You were the risk I was hardest to take,” he confessed softly. “But if I had warned you, Gavin would have noticed, and you have always had a pure heart, Naomi, which he knew how to exploit, so you needed to see who he was without anyone telling you.”
I wanted to hate him for using me, but right in front of me were the reports from the shell companies, the messages between Gavin and the head of accounting, and a photograph of Connor entering the parking lot with tools. My father had not invented the monster. He had only forced it out of hiding.
During the next twenty days, I lived two completely different lives.
At night, I studied contracts, cash flows, and files with Daniel. I discovered that Apex Fund owned Summit Enterprises’ patents, key land holdings, and most profitable concessions. Gavin had received sixty percent of a debt-laden company that he himself had created. Upon assuming the presidency, he had also signed personal guarantees and early termination clauses.
During the day, I was supposed to look completely defeated.
I cut my hair, put away my fancy clothes, and got a job as a cleaner at a high-end restaurant in Grandview where Gavin closed his business deals. The plan was simple: let him see me on the floor so he would lose his fear.
The opportunity came on a rainy Friday. I was cleaning up spilled red wine near a private dining room when Gavin walked in with four wealthy investors. At first, he did not recognize me. Then he looked down at me as if he had found a trophy.
“Naomi Albright cleaning floors,” he said in a low, mocking voice. “Now that deserves a photograph.”
He took out several banknotes and threw them onto the dirty water.
“Buy something to eat,” he sneered. “I do not want people saying I let my ex-wife starve to death.”
I bent down to pick them up. I did not do it out of necessity, but to give him exactly the image of defeat he wanted.
“Thank you, President Barrett,” I replied, looking him in the eye. “It is always best to pick up the garbage before it smells too bad.”
His smile vanished for a moment, but he kept walking. That same night, feeling invincible, he authorized the purchase of two small construction companies and committed the last of his available cash. He was convinced that no one could touch him.
Then I entered the scene.
The National Chamber of Home Builders organized a grand gala at a luxury hotel on High Street. Gavin arrived with Celina, who wore a flashy sequined dress and spoke of her corporation as if she had built it herself.
I appeared as the executive director of Apex Fund.
I was wearing a simple black suit, my short hair was combed back, and I was wearing my late mother’s pearl necklace. As I crossed the room, Gavin spilled part of his drink in shock.
Celina was the first to react.
“Look who got a borrowed dress,” she shouted, attracting the attention of the nearby guests. “Three days ago she was cleaning toilets, and today she has come looking for a rich man.”
Several guests turned around in silence. Gavin approached me with a strained smile.
“Leave before I have security throw you out again,” he whispered threatingly.
“I did not come as your ex-wife,” I replied, raising my voice so others could hear. “I came as the representative of your main creditor.”
The President of the Chamber approached us and shook my hand in front of everyone.
“Director Albright, it is an honor to welcome the Apex Fund,” he said warmly. “Your participation can determine the future of our national projects.”
The color left Gavin’s face.
The next day, we activated the first clause. Apex Fund had acquired the debt of three regional banks and control of the main steel and cement suppliers. We suspended deliveries until Summit Enterprises covered 2.8 billion dollars in overdue obligations.
The cranes stopped in Franklin, Oakville, and Greenfield. The workers did not receive materials. Investors called Gavin in a panic. Financial institutions froze new lines of credit.
He called me seventeen times. I answered the last one.
“You are destroying your father’s company,” he roared through the phone.
“No,” I replied calmly. “I am isolating the fire you started.”
“We can negotiate, Naomi,” he pleaded, his voice cracking.
“You have forty-eight hours to pay,” I said before hanging up. “After that, we will initiate legal action.”
Gavin looked everywhere for money. Celina tried to buy jewelry on Fifth Avenue, but her card was declined in front of her friends. The contractors staged a protest outside the house in Highland Hills. The shareholders demanded an extraordinary general meeting.
Cornered, Gavin made the mistake we expected.
He forged a board resolution to sell two company properties and the family residence to a foreign company. He was unaware that the buyer was a company controlled by Daniel and under investigation by the federal authorities. He signed the document, ordered the advance payment to be sent to a personal account, and confirmed via text message that part of the money would be used to silence the accountant who was aware of the misappropriation of funds.
The entire operation was recorded.
Even so, Gavin announced that he would be ratified as president at the general assembly. He believed that the document with my signature guaranteed him sixty percent of the votes. He organized the event at a hotel in Greenfield, invited journalists, and promised to present a foreign fund that never existed.
I entered the hall accompanied by Daniel and two plainclothes police officers. Gavin was on stage in a white suit. Celina was in the front row, still wearing the pearls I had gifted her.
“Get her out!” she shouted, pointing at me. “That woman no longer belongs to this family.”
Daniel stepped forward and picked up a folder.
“Ms. Naomi Albright is here as director of Apex Fund, the majority creditor of Summit Enterprises, and as a complainant in a federal investigation for fraud, money laundering, and attempted homicide,” he announced.
The murmur in the crowd turned into absolute chaos.
I took the microphone.
“A month ago, Gavin Barrett took advantage of my father’s supposed death to force me to hand over my shares,” I said, looking at the cameras. “Then he evicted me from my own home, but the transfer he claims did not give him control over the strategic assets, and it only transferred to him an indebted company and the liabilities he himself created through shell companies.”
The giant screens behind me displayed duplicate invoices, transfers to accounts in Panama, messages with the accountant, and the video of the illegal sale of the land.
Gavin tried to rip the microphone from my hand.
“It is all false!” he screamed desperately. “I own the majority, and as long as Ross Albright is dead, no one can take this company from me.”
I smiled.
“You should repeat that last part more loudly,” I said.
The heavy doors to the hall opened.
My father entered, accompanied by agents from the federal office and three long-time board members of Summit Enterprises. The journalists jumped to their feet in shock. Celina let out a high-pitched scream, and her pearl necklace broke, scattering pearls on the floor.
