“That is Julian!” I raised my voice, stepping closer. “And you know it. Why are you helping them?”

My father finally looked up, and I saw the sheer terror in his eyes.

His hands were shaking so badly he had to set his glass down to keep it from spilling.

“Because I had no choice,” he whispered.

He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a manila envelope, sliding it toward me.

“What is this?” I asked.

“Senator James Sterling,” my father said, his voice barely audible. “He found the old offshore accounts from the 2018 audit. The ones from the shipping division.”

My heart sank.

I remembered the rumors of financial irregularities that had almost ruined our family five years ago.

“He has enough evidence to put me in federal prison for the rest of my life,” my father said. “And he promised to destroy you, too, if I didn’t cooperate.”

“So you helped him erase Alexander?” I asked, my voice breaking.

“Sterling needed the Whitmore fortune to fund his political campaign,” my father explained, looking at the floor. “But Alexander refused to marry Victoria. Alexander wanted you.”