Chapter 4 - What Dad Had Done With My Name
I looked at the signature.
Richard Bennett
Below it:
Authorized Representative — Bennett Strategic Consulting
I looked at the CFO.
“What is this?”
“A vendor proposal.”
“For Harrington?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Submitted this morning.”
I stared at him.
“This morning?”
“He claims he has a personal relationship with our new CEO.”
My father had discovered my position less than four hours earlier.
And he was already using my name.
“What does he want?”
“A consulting contract.”
“How much?”
“Four hundred and eighty thousand dollars annually.”
I almost laughed.
Almost.
“Reject it.”
“We assumed.”
“And document everything.”
The CFO nodded.
“Legal already has it.”
I called Dad.
He answered immediately.
“Emma.”
“What did you submit to Harrington?”
Silence.
Then:
“I can explain.”
“Please do.”
“It’s a consulting proposal.”
“You retired from municipal procurement six years ago.”
“I have experience.”
“Not in global consumer strategy.”
“Experience is experience.”
“You told Harrington you were my authorized representative.”
“I’m your father.”
“That isn’t authorization.”
His voice hardened.
“After everything we’ve done for you—”
I stood.
“Stop.”
He went silent.
“You threw me out yesterday.”
“We made a mistake.”
“No. You learned my salary.”
“That’s insulting.”
“Then withdraw the proposal.”
“Emma—”
“Withdraw it.”
“You could approve this with one phone call.”
“And I won’t.”
“You’d help strangers before your own father?”
“I would protect my company from anyone trying to exploit it.”
Dad’s voice became cold.
“So that’s what we are now?”
“No.”
I looked through the glass walls of my office.
“That’s what you decided we were when you celebrated while I carried my suitcase out.”
I ended the call.
At 5:45, I left Harrington.
Daniel walked beside me.
“You know this may escalate.”
“I know.”
“You need boundaries.”
“I’m learning.”
When I reached my hotel, Mom was waiting in the lobby.
She stood when she saw me.
“Emma.”
“How did you find me?”
“Chloe.”
Of course.
Mom looked smaller than she had the previous night.
“Can we talk?”
We sat in a quiet corner.
She immediately started crying.
“Your father made a mistake.”
“Which one?”
“Emma.”
“Throwing me out or using my name?”
Her eyes dropped.
“Both.”
I waited.
“I shouldn’t have said what I said.”
“No.”
“I was frustrated.”
“With me?”
“With everything.”
“That doesn’t explain it.”
Mom twisted her wedding ring.
“Chloe told us you weren’t contributing.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“She said you were struggling financially.”
“You saw me buy groceries every week.”
“She said you were using Dad’s card.”
“I was using my card.”
Mom looked confused.
“Your father said—”
“I paid $1,870 for his prescriptions last month.”
Her face changed.
“What?”
I opened my banking app.
Then another statement.
Utilities.
Groceries.
Insurance co-payments.
Phone bills.
Mom stared at the screen.
“Chloe told us she was paying her own phone.”
“She wasn’t.”
Mom went silent.
Then she whispered, “Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Would you have listened?”
That question hurt her.
Good.
Not because I wanted revenge.
Because she needed to answer it.
Finally she said, “Probably not.”
For the first time, my mother admitted it.
“We were unfair to you.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
I studied her face.
“I believe you’re sorry about last night.”
Hope appeared.
“But that doesn’t fix fourteen years.”
Her eyes filled again.
“I don’t know how.”
“Start by not asking me for anything.”
She nodded slowly.
Then my phone rang.
Harrington HR.
I answered.
“Emma Bennett.”
“Ms. Bennett, we’ve completed the preliminary review concerning Chloe Bennett.”
I looked at Mom.
“And?”
“There’s something beyond the résumé discrepancies.”
My expression changed.
“What?”
“Ms. Bennett accessed restricted executive personnel files this afternoon.”
Mom saw my face.
“What happened?”
I stood.
“I have to go.”
“What did Chloe do?”
I picked up my coat.
May you like
“Something she can’t blame on me.”
---
