Total pages in book: 45
Estimated words: 44127 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44127 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
She nods at one of the campus benches near us on the walkways, and I nod as I follow her over and sit. Olivia hands the stack of files over to me and when I take them, I shiver. I open the top one, and I’m ready to ask her again who the hell she is and why she’s here at my school to talk about my dad, when suddenly, my heart stops.
Oh God.
The paper is titled “Project Gemstone,” and when my eyes scan lower, my heart starts to sink. It’s a mining corporation that my father apparently owns somewhere in West Africa near the Congo, and as I start to read, my stomach starts to turn. Phrases like “acceptable mortality rate” and “disciplinary motivational techniques” jump off the page. I turn it, and instantly, my hand flies to my mouth, tears in my eyes and a choking cry on my lips.
Pictures. It’s pictures of what can only be descried as hell. Horrible little shanty huts with starving looking children and their parents looking even hungrier—most missing limbs. And there on the dirty work overalls and on the walls of some of the buildings is the same logo from the top of the “Project Gemstone” sheet and the name “Congo-Atlantic Mining Corporation.” My eyes scan lower to a row of numbers—statistics—and when I realize what they are, the tears start to flow.
They’re death tolls.
“What—” I choke, shaking my head, and Olivia puts her hand on my arm. “Acceptable mortality rate!?” I hiss. “This says fifty-percent of the workforce died.”
She nods, her face white. “I’m so sorry, Brynn. But this is just one of these, well, the ‘types’ of operations your father was running.”
“And you worked with him?”
She shakes her head. “Not on this shit, no. I’m an analyst. None of us who are now digging this stuff out new about it. It was all coded and hidden as bylines in other corporate spending.”
I feel cold, numb. And slowly, I look up at her.
“And there’s more?”
She nods quietly. “Brynn, there’s…”
“Tell me,” I whisper.
“There’s a lot more.”
Oh, and there is. File after file, my heart starts to break, until I’m just crying as I read about the monster that my father really is. Chemical plants hidden on wilderness protection land in India where the entire workforce and surrounding population all got lung cancer from lack of any sort of control on chemical fumes. Poaching operations in Africa and China. I glance at one page until I realize it’s about trafficking women—young, young women—for sex in Eastern Europe, and I look away before I throw up.
“My father…” I whisper, shaking my head as I push the files back into her hands. “My father is a monster.”
Olivia swallows, her hand moving back to my arm. “I’m so sorry to be the one to show you all of this, honey,” she says quietly. “But you needed to see it. All of us in the analytics department who discovered this thought you should. We can go to the authorities with it, but the contracts and non-disclosures we all signed could tie this up for years. Your dad could even spin it long enough for his lawyers and his fixers to bury everything.”
I swallow. “So, you want me to bring it to the authorities.”
She nods slowly. “I know it’s a lot… God, Brynn, I know it’s so much, but I honestly don’t know if any of this will see the light of day otherwise.”
“Olivia—”
“Just think about it? Okay?” She looks at me plaintively. “Please, Brynn. Just consider it.”
I nod slowly, numbly, and she stands and takes the files from me.
“I’m going to put these somewhere where your father can’t touch them. But it’s your testimony that could make or break this. I’m sorry, Brynn.”
I nod, not able to even do much more than glance up at her as she smiles sadly.
“I’ll be in touch soon, okay?”
“Yeah… yeah,” I say quietly. She gives me one last small smile before she turns and walks away into the night, leaving me spiraling and grasping for a lifeline. But then, I stand, I turn, and I start to run for the only lifeline I know.
14
Colton
“Whoa, whoa!”
I growl, catching her in my arms as she comes exploding through the backdoor I’ve just opened at her knock. She hugs me fiercely, and when the sobbing comes against my chest, I growl as I hug her fiercely and protectively.
“Tell me, baby girl,” I growl gently, holding her tight.
“My dad!” she sobs, crying into my chest. “He’s… he’s a monster.”
My scowl deepens as I hold her tight and carry her back through the house. I brush past the dinner I’ve been making us, through the house, up the staircase, and right down the hallway to my bedroom. I pull back the covers and slip her under them, pulling the bankers up tight around her and holding her close as she shakes and sobs. And I just hold her like that, neither of us saying a word until finally, her crying slows.