HAROLD'S POV - The Morning After the Charity Event
Harold Ashford stared at the message on his phone for the hundredth time, his jaw clenched so tight it ached.
Keep your daughter in check, or I'll make her disappear from our lives. Permanently.
Attached were files. Dozens of them. Evidence of Victoria's involvement in the necklace scheme. Email trails. Payment records. But worse....much worse....were the additional documents about his own financial dealings.
Irregularities in Ashford Capital's quarterly reports. Questionable transactions that skirted the line of legality. Nothing overtly criminal, but enough to trigger investigations that would destroy his reputation and possibly land him in federal prison.
Damien Blackwood had him by the throat. And they both knew it.
Harold had responded with the only thing he could: Understood. It won't happen again.
But understanding and accepting were two very different things.
