Chapter 2 - Shadows of Pacific Heights
The drive across town was a blur of splashing tires and deafening silence. Darwin drove straight to the historic district of Presidio Heights—to the grand mansion that had belonged to the Worthington family for three generations.
He pushed open the double oak doors without knocking and strode down the long, carpeted hallway lined with oil portraits of his ancestors. At the end of the hall, he threw open the double doors of the private study.
Decker Worthington sat behind a massive mahogany desk, a glass of twenty-year-old scotch in one hand. Across from him sat two junior executives, who both jumped up in surprise.
Decker looked up over his gold-rimmed reading glasses. "Darwin? What is the meaning of this unseemly entry? Gentlemen, give us the room."
The executives quickly exited, leaving uncle and nephew alone.
"I saw Sydney tonight," Darwin said, stepping forward, rain dripping onto the Persian rug. "She was with two children, Decker. Five-year-old twins. A boy named Xavier and a girl named Alicia."
Decker’s eyes flicked up, sharp and cold. "And? People have children, Darwin. She clearly remarried or moved on."
"The girl has my mother's gray eyes," Darwin snarled, slamming both hands down onto the desk. "The boy has my chin! They are five years old! Do the math, Uncle!"
"Don't lower yourself to melodrama," Decker said in a stern tone. "You do not throw tantrums over coincidences."
"It wasn't a coincidence," Darwin said, his voice shaking. "Phoebe heard you talking to Dr. Harrison. She heard Harrison demanding money for taking care of 'the Sydney problem'."
Silence descended upon the study. Decker didn't panic. He slowly removed his reading glasses and looked at his nephew with calculated disgust.
"So," Decker murmured softly. "Phoebe has a loose tongue."
"You paid Harrison to fake her medical records," Darwin whispered. "You told me she was sterile."
"She was a threat to this family!" Decker barked, standing up and leaning over the desk. "Look at what you were becoming with her! You were talking about leaving the board! You were throwing away the legacy I spent forty years building for a nobody background!"
"She was my wife! My children's mother!"
"I saved your life!" Decker shouted back. "You are CEO! Married into political royalty! You would have had none of this if you had stayed with her!"
"You ruined my life!" Darwin yelled. "I loved her! You stole six years of my children's lives!"
Decker sneered. "And what are you going to do? Run back to her? Destroy our stock value? She kept those children a secret from you, Darwin. If anyone is at fault, it is her."
Darwin stared at his uncle. Slowly, deliberately, he raised his hand and struck his uncle's arm away. "Don't you ever touch me again."
"Think very carefully about your next move," Decker warned. "I control the board."
"I am the CEO," Darwin interrupted coldly. "And starting tomorrow morning, you no longer have an office in this building."
Decker froze. "You wouldn't dare."
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"Watch me," Darwin said. "And as for Dr. Harrison... I am hiring every private investigator and legal team in California. If I find a single cent paid to that doctor, I will put both you and him in a federal penitentiary."
He walked out, leaving Decker pale with fury.
