Chapter 8 - MY GRANDFATHER’S VOICE
The recording began with static.
Then I heard my grandfather.
Seven years disappeared in one second.
“Claire.”
His voice was older than I remembered.
“If you are hearing this, then I failed to fix something before I died.”
I covered my mouth.
Elias sat beside me.
My father stood across the room.
None of us spoke.
My grandfather continued.
“Your mother believes loyalty means protecting the family from consequences.”
“She is wrong.”
My father closed his eyes.
“Grant has been helping her move company money through entities connected to Victor’s former business network.”
“But money is not the worst part.”
The recording crackled.
“Victor discovered that Eleanor authorized the forged inspection document in Monterrey.”
My father gripped the table.
I felt sick.
“She knew the steel had failed inspection.”
“She believed replacing it would destroy the project and possibly the company.”
“Victor threatened to report the forgery.”
There was a pause.
“What happened afterward may have been an accident.”
“But Eleanor’s actions before it were not.”
My eyes filled with tears.
My grandfather’s voice softened.
“Claire, I am leaving additional shares in your name because you ask questions even when the answers hurt.”
“Never let this family convince you that compassion makes you weak.”
I broke.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
I simply lowered my head and cried.
For years, I had believed my grandfather died thinking I had failed.
Instead, he had trusted me.
My father walked out before the recording ended.
I let him go.
There were some truths people had to face alone.
The last part of the recording changed everything again.
“There is one more thing.”
“If Richard ever learns the truth, tell him Victor tried to warn him.”
“He sent Richard a letter three days before the collapse.”
My father had never received it.
Investigators found the letter inside one of the boxes.
It had been opened.
But not by my father.
The envelope contained my mother’s fingerprints.
By evening, police obtained a warrant.
They found my mother at my grandfather’s house.
She wasn’t alone.
Grant was with her.
And the old fireplace was burning.
They had already destroyed two boxes.
Police recovered the rest.
My mother was detained for questioning.
Grant was taken separately.
Before officers put him into the car, he asked to speak to me.
I refused.
Then he said something through Rebecca.
Tell Claire the photograph wasn’t mine.
I read the message twice.
“What photograph?”
Elias asked.
“The one of Noah.”
If Grant hadn’t sent it, there was still someone else involved.
Rebecca immediately contacted investigators.
Twenty minutes later, we learned something worse.
The threatening message had been sent from a prepaid phone.
That phone had connected to a cellular tower near the hospital.
Then near Mercer headquarters.
Then near Elias’s home.
May you like
Someone had followed us.
And that person had not been arrested.
