Chapter 20 - Malcolm Finally Stopped Calling It Protection
Six months after the haircut, Malcolm asked Victoria to visit.
Not Crownwell.
Not his house.
His attorney’s office.
Authorities had charged him with several financial and fraud-related offenses connected to Redwood and disclosure failures.
He had not gone to trial.
Negotiations continued.
He looked older.
Victoria hated that she noticed.
“You came.”
“You asked.”
Malcolm smiled faintly.
“Thomas would have.”
“Don’t use Dad.”
“Fair.”
They sat.
No lawyers in the room, though both waited nearby.
Malcolm said:
“I’m going to plead.”
Victoria stared.
“To what?”
“Enough.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“Fraud-related counts. False disclosures. Breach issues are civil.”
“Prison?”
“Likely some.”
Victoria felt no satisfaction.
This was her uncle.
The man who taught her to ride a bicycle.
Who sat beside her at the hospital when Logan was born.
Who lied for twelve years.
Both.
“Why tell me?”
“Because I want you to hear something before lawyers reduce everything to language neither of us believes.”
Victoria waited.
Malcolm looked down.
“The first two hundred thousand was Thomas.”
“I know.”
“I told him the project would fail without it.”
“Did it?”
“Maybe.”
“Malcolm.”
“I don’t know.”
There.
“I believed it.”
Then Malcolm moved another $400,000.
Then more.
Redwood bought the land.
The value rose.
He told himself he would repay everything before anyone noticed.
Then Lydia noticed.
“She gave me forty-eight hours.”
“To do what?”
“Tell Thomas and the board.”
“What did you do?”
“I panicked.”
“You framed her.”
“Yes.”
“Bell helped.”
“Yes.”
“Dad discovered it.”
“Eventually.”
“What did he say?”
Malcolm laughed sadly.
“He hit me.”
Victoria blinked.
“Dad?”
“Once.”
She had never known.
“Then he made me sign the acknowledgment.”
“Why didn’t he expose you?”
“Same reason you signed Lydia’s termination.”
Victoria’s jaw tightened.
“Trust?”
“Fear.”
Thomas feared Crownwell’s collapse.
Feared scandal.
Feared employees suffering.
Feared sending his younger brother to prison.
“He chose cleanup.”
Malcolm continued.
“He made Crownwell buy Redwood so the scholarship trust could be repaid and the land moved into the company.”
“But you kept an interest.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Greed.”
The word surprised her.
No euphemism.
“Finally.”
Malcolm nodded.
“Greed.”
Then Thomas died.
Malcolm inherited more influence.
He used the family trust to support Redwood.
Built school relationships.
Bought Bell’s loyalty.
“Why Northstar?”
“To cash out.”
“Before I found it.”
“Yes.”
“Why use Logan?”
Malcolm looked ashamed.
“I didn’t think of him as Logan.”
Victoria felt anger.
“What did you think of him as?”
“A scheduling fact.”
Her eyes filled.
“That may be worse.”
“I know.”
“Prescott?”
“An angry teacher.”
“Bell?”
“A useful principal.”
“Lydia?”
“A problem.”
Malcolm closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Victoria whispered:
“That’s what you did to people.”
“I know.”
“You turned them into functions.”
“Yes.”
“And called it protecting the company.”
He looked at her.
“I don’t call it that anymore.”
Silence.
“What do you call it?”
“Control.”
Victoria felt tears.
Not forgiveness.
Recognition.
Malcolm continued.
“I loved this family.”
“I believe you.”
He looked surprised.
“That doesn’t help me.”
“It isn’t supposed to.”
Victoria leaned back.
“You can love people and still use them.”
“Yes.”
“You can think you’re saving something and still destroy parts of it.”
“Yes.”
“Logan knows that better than either of us.”
Malcolm looked down.
“Will he ever see me?”
“Not now.”
“Later?”
“His choice.”
Malcolm nodded.
He did not ask again.
At the door Victoria stopped.
“Did you ever tell Ms. Prescott to cut his hair?”
“No.”
“I believe you.”
He exhaled.
“But you created the reason Bell wanted her anger.”
“Yes.”
“You don’t get innocence because you didn’t hold the scissors.”
“I know.”
Victoria left.
For the first time since the scandal began, Malcolm had stopped defending motive as absolution.
It did not undo anything.
May you like
But it ended one argument.
Now consequences could simply be consequences.
