Chapter 78 Harrington Moves
The heavy vibration of the helicopter rotors died down, leaving only the sound of the wind whipping against the stone walls of the Vane estate, and Alex reached for the handle of the front door with a steady hand.
He did not go out alone, because as soon as he stepped onto the wide porch, Sarah was on his left and Mark was on his right, and the three of them stood in a line as Richard Harrington walked up the steps.
Richard looked older in the gray morning light, his coat was buttoned up to his chin and his eyes were fixed solely on his son, ignoring the woman and the grandson who stood in his way as if they were nothing more than shadows.
"Step aside, Sarah, I am here to speak with my son, and I do not have the patience for an audience while I bring him back to his senses," Richard said, his voice was a low growl that lacked its usual volume, but it still carried the weight of a man who was used to being obeyed without question.
"You are not talking to him alone, Richard, because every time you get him in a room by himself, you try to rebuild the cage he just escaped from," Sarah replied, she stepped half a pace forward, her feet planted firmly on the wood of the porch, and she did not blink as the billionaire finally shifted his gaze to her.
"I am his father, and I am the head of the house he belongs to, so do not think that a few days of hiding in a Vane bedroom has changed the legal reality of who he is," Richard told her, he looked back at Alex and gestured toward the idling helicopter on the lawn.
"Get in the bird, Alex, we have a board meeting in two hours, and I have already told the press that your absence was a medical emergency that has been resolved."
"I am not going to the meeting, and I am never stepping foot in that building again, Dad," Alex said, his voice was calm and it lacked the anger that usually flared up when he spoke to his father. "The Harrington name is dead to me, and if you think you can force me back into that chair, you have forgotten who taught me how to fight."
"You are talking like a child, and you are throwing away a dynasty for a woman who lied to you from the start," Richard said, he pulled a small piece of paper from his pocket and held it up, the same forged loan document he had used in the dining room.
"I still have this, Sarah, and I will use it to strip you of every contract you have if you do not tell him to get in that helicopter right now."
"You can keep that paper, Richard, because I have the original that Julian gave me at the docks, and I have the audio recording of Helena telling the city clerk to forge your copy," Sarah said, she didn't yell, she just spoke the truth with a cold, business-like tone that made Richard’s hand tremble slightly. "I have the wire transfers, I have the names of the people you paid off, and I have enough evidence of corporate fraud to put you and Helena in a cell for the next twenty years."
Richard went quiet, his eyes darted from Sarah to the flash drive she was holding in her other hand, and for the first time in her life, Sarah saw the mask of the untouchable patriarch begin to crack. The power in the air shifted, the billionaire was no longer the one holding the hammer, he was the one standing in the path of a wrecking ball that Sarah was ready to release.
"You would try to destroy the company just to win a point against me?" Richard asked, his voice sounding thin against the sound of the crashing waves below the cliffs.
"I am not destroying a company, I am removing a cancer, and if the Harrington Group dies because of the truth, then it was never healthy enough to survive in the first place," Sarah told him, she stepped even closer until she was standing on the top step, looking down at the man who had tried to ruin her.
"You think you can buy people because you had nothing as a boy, but you cannot buy me, and you cannot buy your son’s loyalty anymore."
"She is right, Dad, the game is over," Alex added, he stepped between them and looked his father in the eye, his face showing a mix of pity and a hard, final rejection.
"Go back to the city, tell the board that I have resigned, and try to save whatever is left of your own reputation before we release the files to the prosecutor at noon."
Mark stood silent, his eyes fixed on Richard, and he felt a strange sense of relief seeing the man who had always been a giant finally looking like a regular human who had run out of moves. Richard looked at the three of them, he looked at the stone house behind them that he could not enter, and then he looked at the helicopter that was his only way out of the mess he had created.
"You think you have won because you found a few papers and recorded a few phone calls," Richard said, and suddenly, a small, jagged smile appeared on his face that made the hair on Sarah’s neck stand up.
"The truth is a win in any court I know," Mark said, speaking for the first time.
"In a court, yes, but you have to be able to stand in front of a judge to present it," Richard replied, he reached into his coat and pulled out a phone, showing a digital notification that had just been pushed to the legal wires.
"While you were busy playing detective at the docks, Helena was busy with the authorities, she has officially filed a missing person report and a petition for legal guardianship over Alex, claiming he has suffered a mental breakdown and is being held against his will by a known predator."
"She can't do that, I am right here, and I am perfectly sane," Alex snapped, reaching for the phone, but Richard pulled it back.
"The report is already processed, and because of the 'medical emergency' I told the press about, the police have already issued a pick-up order," Richard said, his smile growing wider as he backed down the first step.
"As of ten minutes ago, Alex, you are legally incapacitated, you cannot sign a contract, you cannot testify in a courtroom, and you certainly cannot represent yourself at a board meeting, because according to the city, you do not even know where you are."
Sarah felt a cold wave of dread hit her as she realized that Richard and Helena had used their last remaining hours to erase Alex’s legal existence, turning their fortress into a prison before the sun had even fully risen.
"You are a monster," Sarah whispered.
"I am a Harrington," Richard replied, he turned and started walking back toward the helicopter without looking back.
"I will see you at the hearing, if the police let you in the building."