Daniel stared at the photograph. Victor Harlan had appeared in newspapers for decades, celebrating business expansions, charitable donations, and major construction projects. His transportation company owned warehouses across Pennsylvania, and his name appeared on the new children's wing at Millbrook General Hospital.
To most residents, Victor represented success.
To Daniel, he had always been a distant figure connected to his father's failure.
“What did Harlan do?” Daniel asked.
Samuel looked toward the window.
“He took everything your father built.”
He explained that Robert Brooks founded Brooks Transport in 1983 with two trucks and a rented garage. Samuel helped manage equipment and routes, while Victor joined several years later as an investor.
At first, the partnership seemed successful.
Contracts expanded, drivers earned steady paychecks, and Robert began saving money to send Daniel to college.
Then Victor persuaded Robert to restructure the company's ownership. He claimed the changes would attract investors and protect the business from financial risks.
Robert trusted him.
Within eighteen months, the company was drowning in debt.
Important contracts were transferred to a separate business controlled by Victor, while Brooks Transport remained responsible for expenses it could no longer cover.
Robert lost his company.
Samuel began examining the financial records and discovered discrepancies.
“I found transfers that didn't make sense,” he told Daniel. “Equipment purchased with company money was appearing under Victor's subsidiaries.”
“Did you report it?”
“I tried.”
Samuel contacted an attorney and arranged to deliver copies of the records.
But before the meeting, someone threatened his wife.
Samuel's expression changed.
“They knew where she worked. They knew when she walked home.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“What happened next?”
“My truck was forced off the road near the river.”
Ethan stared.
“The accident?”
Samuel nodded.
“I escaped before the vehicle went into the water.”
“Then why didn't you come home?” Daniel demanded.
Samuel's eyes filled with tears.
“Because they told me Robert's family would die if I did.”
Daniel stood abruptly.
“My father spent thirty years believing you abandoned him!”
“I know.”
“He died thinking he failed everyone!”
Samuel began crying.
“I know.”
The room fell silent.
Ethan watched his father struggle with anger and grief. Daniel had lost his mother when he was nineteen and his father six years later. He rarely discussed either death.
Now the past had returned in the form of a frightened old man wearing Ethan's scarf.
Samuel reached for Daniel's hand.
“I didn't come back for forgiveness.”
“Then why?”
“Because Victor is selling the last piece of property connected to Brooks Transport.”
Daniel frowned.
“What property?”
“The warehouse on Jefferson Street.”
Ethan recognized the address.
It was the abandoned building outside which he'd found Samuel.
Samuel's voice trembled.
“The original records are still inside.”