Chapter 2 - CODE BLACK
The first black SUV arrived thirty-eight seconds later.
Then another.
Then another.
By the time Logan managed to twist his head toward the window, six armored vehicles were sweeping up the mansion’s circular driveway.
Men and women in dark tactical uniforms poured out.
No flashing lights.
No sirens.
No shouting.
They moved with quiet precision.
That frightened Logan more than police cars ever could.
“What the hell is this?” he demanded.
Ethan released his arm and stood.
“My security team.”
Logan blinked.
“Your security team?”
“You never asked what I did for a living.”
“I know who you are. You run some corporate security company.”
Ethan stared at him.
“Some corporate security company?”
Grace sat slowly on the bottom step.
One of the security officers entered.
Tall.
Broad-shouldered.
Close-cropped black hair.
“Sir.”
“Marcus.”
Marcus Reed immediately assessed the room.
Broken table.
Grace.
Logan.
Two nervous men near the kitchen.
His expression hardened.
“Threat status?”
“Contained for now.”
Marcus glanced at Logan.
“Mercer?”
“You know me?” Logan asked.
Marcus ignored him.
Ethan pointed toward the broken phone.
“Evidence recovery. Nobody touches it except Hall.”
“Understood.”
Another officer approached Grace.
A woman in her forties named Dana Hall.
“Grace?”
Grace nodded.
“I’m Dana. I’ve known your dad almost twenty years. I need to check your injuries.”
“I’m okay.”
Dana knelt.
“That’s not what I asked.”
Grace gave her a shaky look.
“My wrist hurts.”
Dana gently examined it.
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
Logan saw it.
“Oh, come on. I barely touched her.”
The room became silent.
Grace stared at the floor.
Ethan slowly turned.
“What?”
Logan shrugged.
“She came here on her own.”
“I did,” Grace said quietly.
Ethan looked at her.
“Why?”
Grace hesitated.
“Because he said he had something that belonged to Mom.”
That landed harder than anything else.
Ethan froze.
Grace’s mother, Laura, had been dead for eleven years.
“What did he say he had?”
“A letter.”
Logan suddenly laughed.
Grace glared at him.
“You told me it was from her.”
“It might’ve been.”
“You said she wrote it before she died.”
“Maybe she did.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“Where is it?”
Logan smiled.
“You break into my house, assault me, bring armed men onto my property, and now you expect me to answer questions?”
Ethan leaned slightly forward.
“Yes.”
Logan’s smile disappeared.
One of the men near the kitchen spoke.
“Logan, maybe you should just—”
“Shut up, Tyler.”
Ethan looked at Tyler.
“Who are you?”
Tyler hesitated.
“Tyler Grant.”
Grace’s head snapped up.
“Dad.”
“What?”
“That’s the guy Logan was talking to before he came after me.”
Tyler paled.
“I didn’t do anything.”
Grace pointed at him.
“They were arguing about money.”
Logan shouted, “Grace, shut up!”
Marcus immediately stepped between them.
Ethan never looked away from Tyler.
“What money?”
Tyler shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Grace said, “Thirty million.”
No one moved.
Ethan turned slowly toward her.
“Thirty million dollars?”
“That’s what they said.”
Logan laughed nervously.
“She was drunk.”
“I didn’t drink anything.”
“You had champagne.”
“I put it down after one sip.”
Tyler looked at Logan.
Then at Ethan.
Then toward the front door.
Marcus noticed.
“Don’t.”
Tyler froze.
Dana picked up Grace’s broken phone using an evidence bag.
“The memory card might be intact.”
Logan suddenly looked genuinely panicked.
“You can’t take that.”
Dana raised an eyebrow.
“Watch me.”
“It’s my house.”
“It’s her phone.”
“You don’t understand.”
Ethan stared at him.
“Then help me understand.”
Logan swallowed.
His confidence was disappearing fast.
“The recording isn’t what you think.”
Grace looked at her father.
“He said Mom’s accident wasn’t an accident.”
Every person in the room stopped.
Ethan’s face emptied.
For eleven years, he had believed Laura Cole died when her SUV lost control on a wet highway.
He had buried his wife.
Raised his daughter alone.
Learned to live with questions no police report could answer.
Now Grace was telling him that Logan Mercer knew something.
Ethan turned toward him.
“What did you say about my wife?”
Logan didn’t answer.
Ethan stepped closer.
“What did you say?”
May you like
Logan finally whispered, “I said my father knows why she died.”
And for the first time that night, Ethan Cole forgot about taking Grace home.
