Chapter 6 - A PHOTOGRAPH FROM THE PAST
I pulled my wrist free. “Say it.”
Victoria looked at Owen. “Show him.”
Owen’s confidence slipped. “I told you not to bring that up.”
“Show me what?” I asked.
He took out his phone again and opened a photograph. It showed a construction site from twelve years earlier. My first major project. At the edge of the frame stood a younger version of me beside a man named Alan Mercer.
Alan had died when a temporary platform failed during a site visit. The investigation found that a subcontractor had installed it incorrectly. I had paid for Alan’s daughter’s education and stayed in touch with his wife until she moved away.
“This photo proves nothing,” I said.
Owen swiped to an email dated the morning of the accident. It appeared to be from me:
We’re behind schedule. Open the east platform today. We’ll address inspection afterward.
I stared at it.
“I didn’t write that.”
“Maybe,” Owen said. “But if it reaches the press, people will ask.”
“Where did you get it?”
He said nothing.
Victoria stepped in. “We didn’t want to hurt you. We just needed you to help with the loan.”
“You threatened me with a dead man.”
Her eyes filled again, but this time I saw how quickly she could make it happen. “I never wanted it to go this far.”
“It already has.”
I called David and put him on speaker. I described the email, the loan, and the attempted transfers. Owen tried to interrupt. David cut him off.
“Mr. Price, send me the original file and every message you have about it. Julian, stop speaking to them until I arrive. I’m five minutes away.”
Victoria’s phone buzzed. She checked it and went pale.
“What now?” I asked.
She didn’t answer. Owen looked over her shoulder, and the muscles in his jaw tightened.
I took a step closer. “Victoria.”
She turned the screen toward me.
A message from an unknown number read:
THE NANNY RECORDED YOU. GET HER PHONE BEFORE THE CEREMONY IS CANCELED.
My mind went to Teresa and Leo with my mother. I called Teresa immediately.
She didn’t pick up.
I called my mother.
No answer.
Downstairs, the orchestra stopped playing.
May you like
Then someone began pounding on the dressing room door.
“Mr. Vance!” Paige shouted. “There’s a problem with Leo.”
