Chapter 3 - SOMEONE HAD BEEN INSIDE
Elias read the message twice.
Then he called security.
Not hospital security.
His own.
Within minutes, two men were stationed outside Room 412.
Rebecca forwarded the photograph to investigators.
I stared at it until the screen blurred.
“My grandfather’s house.”
“I know.”
Elias touched my shoulder.
“The files aren’t there anymore.”
I looked at him.
Three weeks earlier, when we decided to confront Grant, Elias had insisted we move everything.
The original drive was now inside a secure evidence vault.
Two encrypted copies existed elsewhere.
Grant didn’t know that.
Whoever had entered the house didn’t know it either.
Rebecca studied the photograph.
“This is good.”
I stared at her.
“Someone broke into my grandfather’s house.”
“I understand.”
“Then how is this good?”
“Because they’re panicking.”
She enlarged the image.
“And people make mistakes when they panic.”
She was right.
At 2:17 that afternoon, police found a broken window at the back of the property.
At 2:41, they found muddy footprints.
At 3:05, they found something better.
A security camera across the road had recorded a black Mercer Development Group SUV entering the property shortly before dawn.
The vehicle had been assigned to Grant’s executive office.
Grant denied knowing anything about it.
By evening, the company’s board had called an emergency meeting.
My father called me three times.
I didn’t answer.
My mother called twice.
I didn’t answer her either.
Grant didn’t call.
He sent one message.
We need to talk before you make a mistake you can’t undo.
I deleted it.
The next morning, Elias was asleep in the chair beside my bed when Noah began crying.
I picked him up.
“You hungry again?”
Elias opened one eye.
“He has my appetite.”
“He’s twenty-four hours old.”
“Exactly.”
I laughed.
It surprised me.
After everything that had happened, I could still laugh.
Elias stood and kissed Noah’s forehead.
Then someone knocked.
My father entered alone.
No charcoal suit this time.
No executive armor.
Just a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
He looked ten years older.
Elias straightened.
My father raised both hands.
“I’m not here to fight.”
I said nothing.
He looked at Noah.
Then at me.
“May I sit?”
I nodded toward the chair.
He sat.
For several seconds, he stared at the floor.
Then he said something I never expected.
“I should have listened to you.”
It wasn’t enough.
But it was something.
“You should have.”
“I thought Grant was protecting the company.”
“You thought Grant could do no wrong.”
“Yes.”
The honesty hurt more than an excuse would have.
He rubbed his face.
“The auditors found payments I never approved.”
“How much?”
“At least eighteen million.”
I closed my eyes.
Eighteen million.
“And that’s only what they found yesterday.”
My father nodded.
“Grant says you manufactured the evidence.”
“Do you believe him?”
He didn’t answer immediately.
That was answer enough.
Elias stepped forward.
“If you came here to accuse her—”
“I didn’t.”
My father reached into his pocket.
He placed a small key on the bedside table.
I recognized it.
His private office safe.
“Last night I checked records Grant doesn’t know I still have.”
My heart started beating faster.
“And?”
My father looked at me.
“There’s something worse.”
He swallowed.
“Your grandfather discovered the missing money before you did.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“He confronted Grant eight years ago.”
Eight years.
My grandfather had died seven years ago.
I felt cold.
“What happened?”
My father reached into his pocket again.
This time he removed a folded piece of paper.
“I found this in my safe.”
It was my grandfather’s handwriting.
I knew it immediately.
Richard,
If anything happens to me before I can bring this to the board, do not let Grant control Claire’s shares.
She is the only one who asked the right questions.
My hands started shaking.
At the bottom was another sentence.
One that made the entire room disappear around me.
May you like
North Crescent is not Grant’s company.
He is protecting someone else.
