Chapter 3 - Sabotage and ExposureThe Northwest rainy season set in with a vengeance three days later. Sheets of gray water lashed against the cedar siding of the workshop, and the Pacific churned into a white-capped frenzy below the headland.
Despite the heavy rain, Ethan and I were working feverishly. Evergreen had secured a major contract six months ago—a three-million-dollar eco-resort project in Hood River that required prefabricated custom timber trusses. If we missed the delivery deadline next month because of Richard’s legal lien, our client had the right to terminate the contract, which would trigger a $200,000 penalty clause.
Richard knew this. He was relying on the time crunch to force me into a settlement.
"The bank just called," Ethan said, stepping out of the office alcove in the workshop, holding a stack of papers. "Because of the lis pendens filed by your father’s attorney, our operating line of credit has been temporarily frozen. We can't draw down funds to purchase the remaining Douglas fir lumber shipment for the Hood River trusses."
I set down my wood planer, wiping sweat and rain from my forehead. "How much do we need for the lumber shipment?"
"Forty-five thousand dollars," Ethan replied. "We have thirty in liquid reserves. If we use all of it, we won't be able to pay our three apprentices next Friday."
"I’ll cover the difference," Olivia’s voice came from the workshop doorway.
She walked in wearing a yellow raincoat and heavy rubber boots I had lent her. Over the last seventy-two hours, Olivia had transformed. She had traded her silk dresses for work shirts, helping Ethan organize inventory sheets and sorting through financial records she had pulled from her old emails.
"With what, Olivia?" I asked softly. "You said Dad took your money."
Olivia pulled a velvet jewelry box from her pocket. "My grandmother’s vintage diamond choker. Dad gave it to me on my twenty-first birthday to wear to his corporate galas. It was appraised at sixty-five thousand dollars last year. It’s mine. Legally, it was a gift. I want you to pawn it or sell it to secure the lumber."
I stared at her, deeply moved. "Olivia... that’s the last valuable thing you have."
"No," Olivia said, her voice firmer than I had ever heard it. "It’s a golden leash. I don't want it. What you and Ethan are building here... it’s real. I want to help protect it."
Before I could thank her, the high-pitched whine of a security alarm echoed from the lower acreage near the lumber drying kilns.
Ethan snapped his head toward the door. "The perimeter motion sensor near kiln two!"
We grabbed heavy flashlights and ran out into the pouring rain, mud splashing over our boots as we raced down the winding gravel path toward the lower yard. The kilns housed over eighty thousand dollars' worth of specialized, kiln-dried clear-cedar timber—the heart of our inventory.
As we rounded the corner of the equipment shed, the beam of my flashlight caught a figure dressed in dark rain gear, crouching near the main control panel of the solar-powered kiln. Smoke was beginning to billow from the electrical junction box.
"Hey!" Ethan roared, sprinting forward.
The intruder jumped, dropping a heavy crowbar and a canister of industrial accelerant. He scrambled toward an unmarked pickup truck parked near the tree line. Ethan tackled him into the mud near the gate, pinning his arms behind his back while I rushed to the kiln panel with a fire extinguisher, blasting the sparks and chemical fire before it could reach the timber stacks.
Olivia ran up, illuminating the scene with her flashlight as Ethan hauled the intruder to his feet, pulling off his ski mask.
The man was mid-fifties, with a weathered face and terrified eyes. I recognized him immediately.
"Gary?" I gasped.
It was Gary Miller—my father’s former facilities manager, a man who had worked for the Vance Development Corporation for over fifteen years.
"Maria... please," Gary choked out, coughing in the rain. "I didn't want to do it. I swear to God I didn't want to!"
"You tried to burn down my drying kiln?" I yelled over the sound of the wind. "Are you insane?"
"He paid me ten thousand dollars in cash!" Gary sobbed, his voice breaking. "Richard said he just wanted me to damage the electrical board to cause a power failure! He said it would force you to default on your Hood River contract so you’d come to the table! My wife has cancer, Maria! I lost my pension when Richard’s firm defaulted last month! I was desperate!"
I stood in the pouring rain, the fire extinguisher heavy in my hands, staring at Gary in sheer horror. My father hadn't just tried to use legal maneuvers. He was willing to commit arson, destroy my livelihood, and endanger human lives—all to satisfy his pathologically fragile ego.
"Call the state police, Ethan," I said, my voice dead and cold.
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"No, Maria, please!" Gary begged. "I’ll tell them everything! I’ll give you the text messages! The cash withdrawal records! Just don't let them send me to prison!"
I stepped right up to Gary, looking into his eyes. "You're going to give me everything, Gary. Every text. Every voicemail. Every illegal order Richard Vance ever gave you. Because tomorrow morning, my father’s fake empire ends."
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