Chapter 5 - The Confrontation
Clara gasped, pulling baby Austin closer to her chest as Corbin stepped into the warm apartment. Vance immediately grabbed his briefcase, his face turning gray with shock.
“Corbin?” Vance stammered, stepping back. “What… how are you here?”
Lianna stood up from the table, her eyes widening in disbelief as she recognized her employer. “Mr. Stanford?”
Corbin raised his hands slowly, showing he was unarmed and meant no harm. “I followed you, Lianna. I’m sorry. I overheard you on the phone this morning in my kitchen asking your mother for twenty-eight dollars for formula. I came here to leave cash in your mailbox because I was ashamed that I didn't know how badly you were struggling.”
He turned his gaze toward Harrison Vance, his eyes burning with a sudden, dangerous intensity.
“I didn't expect to find my family’s lawyer delivering a confession,” Corbin said coldly.
Vance straightened his back, trying to regain his composure. “Corbin, you don't understand the legal complexities of what took place four years ago. Your father was acting to preserve the financial integrity of the firm—”
“Shut up, Harrison,” Corbin cut him off, his voice flat and commandingly sharp. “My father let a man die, covered up a structural flaw in a public harbor, and paid you to keep his widow living in poverty while she cleaned my house.”
“I didn't know she worked for you!” Vance insisted defensively. “I executed the agreement exactly as Julian Prescott requested upon Arthur’s death!”
“You let her beg for twenty-eight dollars while holding a four-million-dollar stock certificate in your briefcase!” Corbin stepped up to the elderly lawyer, standing inches from his face. “You’re not a guardian of justice, Harrison. You’re a coward hiding behind non-disclosure agreements.”
Lianna stood frozen between the two men, looking at Corbin with confusion and lingering distrust. “You knew about this? All these months I’ve been cleaning your home, you knew who Julian was?”
“I swear on my life, I didn't,” Corbin said, turning to her, his voice softening completely. “Four years ago, I heard my father and Vance fighting in the study. I heard Julian’s name once, and then my father ordered me out of the room. I was twenty-nine, running a regional branch in Boston. My father kept me far away from the harbor project. I thought it was just a routine contract dispute.”
He looked down at the black leather notebook in her hands.
“When I looked at your employment file today,” Corbin continued, “I saw Julian’s name listed as your late spouse. The memory hit me, but I didn't understand the connection until I heard Harrison speaking just now.”
Lianna looked at him searching for deception, her dark eyes piercing into his soul. For seven months, she had known Corbin as a quiet, distant boss who left his coffee cup by the sink and paid his bills on time. She saw no arrogance in his eyes now—only a deep, crushing sorrow.
“What happens now?” Lianna asked, her voice steady despite the chaos around her. “Are you going to try to take this envelope back to protect your company?”
May you like
Corbin looked at the blue envelope, then at the baby sleeping in Clara’s arms, and finally at Lianna.
“No,” Corbin said firmly. “We are going to open every single file in that notebook together. And if my father’s company built a dangerous foundation at Providence Harbor, we are going to tear it down and rebuild it right.”
