Chapter 4 - The Lie His Father Built
Nathan drove to his father’s house at one in the morning.
Richard Pierce was waiting in the kitchen wearing flannel pajama pants and an old navy sweatshirt.
Nathan entered without hugging him.
“What did you lie about?”
Richard looked toward the coffee maker.
“Sit down.”
“No.”
“Nathan.”
“You told me Samuel Reed fired you because you challenged him over unsafe equipment.”
Richard’s shoulders dropped.
“I know.”
“You told me he ruined our family.”
“I know what I told you.”
Nathan slammed his keys onto the table.
“I spent thirty years believing that.”
Richard looked older than Nathan remembered.
“When your mother got sick, we were drowning.”
Nathan said nothing.
His mother Elaine had died when he was nineteen after a long battle with cancer.
Medical bills had consumed almost everything the Pierces owned.
Richard continued.
“You had been accepted to Boston College. You wanted to study business.”
Nathan remembered.
His father had presented him with the tuition deposit two weeks before the deadline.
Nathan had thought Richard borrowed it.
“I stole fuel vouchers from Reed Harbor,” Richard said.
Nathan stared at him.
“What?”
“Not millions. Not even tens of thousands. But enough.”
“How much?”
“About eleven thousand dollars over seven months.”
Nathan stepped backward.
Richard’s voice cracked.
“I sold them through a commercial operator I knew. I used the money for your tuition deposit and part of your mother’s treatments.”
Nathan’s face went cold.
“Samuel caught you.”
“Yes.”
“And fired you.”
“He had to.”
Nathan shook his head.
“You made him sound like a monster.”
“I was ashamed.”
“So you lied to me.”
“I told myself I was protecting you.”
“From what?”
“Knowing your father was a thief.”
Nathan laughed bitterly.
“Instead you taught me the rich man at the marina destroyed us.”
Richard flinched.
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Nathan paced the kitchen.
“All those years I hated people like him because of you.”
“People like him?”
Nathan stopped.
Richard studied his son.
“That’s the problem, Nathan. You’ve spent your life sorting people into categories.”
Nathan thought of Samuel’s work jacket.
His cheek.
The slap.
Richard continued.
“Samuel didn’t prosecute me.”
Nathan looked up.
“What?”
“He could have.”
“He didn’t?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Your mother was dying.”
Richard sat heavily.
“He made me repay the money through payroll deductions at another marine company he helped me get into.”
Nathan stared at him.
“Samuel helped you find another job?”
“Yes.”
The humiliation was almost unbearable.
Everything Nathan had believed was reversed.
“Why didn’t he tell me tonight?”
“Because Samuel doesn’t use favors as weapons.”
Richard’s words landed hard.
Nathan turned toward the window.
After several seconds he said, “There’s a forged contract in my deal.”
Richard’s expression changed.
“What contract?”
Nathan explained.
Not everything.
But enough.
Samuel’s signature.
Nathan’s portal credentials.
The 2:13 a.m. upload.
Richard listened silently.
When Nathan finished, his father stood.
“Who runs the deal?”
“Victor Hale.”
Richard froze.
Nathan noticed.
“What?”
Richard said nothing.
“Dad.”
“I know that name.”
Nathan’s stomach tightened.
“How?”
Richard walked toward a cabinet and opened the bottom drawer.
He removed an old envelope.
Inside was a faded business card.
VICTOR HALE
MARITIME ASSET SOLUTIONS
Nathan stared at it.
The logo was decades old.
“What is this?”
Richard sat again.
“Victor worked with vendors at Reed Harbor when I was there.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“He would have been in his twenties.”
“He was ambitious even then.”
“What happened?”
Richard hesitated.
“After Samuel fired me, Victor came to my house.”
Nathan’s blood ran cold.
“Why?”
“He said he knew what I’d done.”
“What did he want?”
“He wanted information about marina contracts. Pricing. Lease renewals. Maintenance schedules.”
“Did you give it to him?”
“No.”
Richard looked ashamed.
“But I almost did.”
Nathan picked up the card.
“Did Samuel know?”
“I don’t think so.”
Nathan took a photograph.
His phone vibrated immediately afterward.
A new email.
From Aurelia Compliance.
NOTICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE.
Effective immediately, Nathan Pierce was prohibited from accessing corporate systems, contacting Blue Meridian clients, or entering company-controlled vessels without authorization.
Nathan’s face hardened.
“Olivia suspended me.”
Richard read the message.
“Maybe she had to.”
“You sound like Samuel.”
“Maybe Samuel isn’t your biggest problem.”
Nathan’s phone rang again.
Victor.
Nathan answered.
“Did you know Olivia was suspending me?”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t stop her?”
“I couldn’t.”
Nathan looked at the old Victor Hale business card on the table.
“You knew Reed Harbor thirty years ago.”
Silence.
Then Victor said, “Who told you that?”
Nathan’s pulse accelerated.
“My father.”
Another pause.
“Your father should be careful about revisiting old stories.”
Nathan’s eyes narrowed.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means frightened men remember things incorrectly.”
Nathan looked at Richard.
His father could hear Victor’s voice faintly.
Victor continued.
“Tomorrow at nine. My office. Come alone.”
“I’m suspended.”
“I didn’t ask you to come to Aurelia.”
“Where?”
Victor gave him an address.
A private office building across town.
Then he added, “And Nathan?”
“What?”
“Do not bring your father.”
The line went dead.
Richard stared at his son.
Nathan slowly lowered the phone.
“How did he know you were here?” Richard asked.
Nathan had no answer.
Then both men looked toward the dark kitchen window.
May you like
Outside, across the street, a black sedan started its engine.
And drove away.
