Chapter 5 - The Truth Grant Couldn't Buy
The party ended earlier than planned.
Not because of me.
Because Grant's company was collapsing in real time.
At 11:17 p.m., we sat inside Mom's living room.
Grant's laptop covered the coffee table.
Olivia brought coffee.
Mom brought sandwiches nobody touched.
I sat with an ice pack against my ribs.
Grant stared at dozens of emails.
“This goes back eight months.”
“Who signed the reports?” I asked.
“Vice President of Operations. Charles Mercer.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Then don't act guilty.”
“My name is on the company.”
“Responsibility isn't the same as guilt.”
Grant looked at me.
“You really believe that?”
“I command people. If they make mistakes, I take responsibility for fixing them. That doesn't mean I lie about who made the mistake.”
Olivia pointed at the screen.
“What is that?”
Grant opened an email.
His face went pale.
“Mercer knew.”
“About the defective components?”
“Yes.”
Mom whispered:
“Grant…”
“He shipped them anyway.”
“Can anyone get hurt?” I asked.
Grant froze.
That answer told me everything.
“How many units?”
“Possibly hundreds.”
“Then call the government.”
He stared at me.
“If I do that, the company may be finished.”
“If you don't?”
He said nothing.
I leaned forward.
“People trusted your name.”
Grant looked at the screen.
“So what do I do?”
“You already know.”
He closed his eyes.
Then picked up his phone.
At 11:31 p.m., Grant Cole reported his own company.
He spent the next hour providing documents.
When he finally hung up, his hands were shaking.
“That may have destroyed everything I've built.”
Mom sat beside him.
“Or saved what mattered.”
Grant looked at me.
“Was it this hard?”
“What?”
“Going back to the bus.”
I thought about it.
“No.”
He looked surprised.
“Why?”
“Because I didn't have anything to lose except my life.”
Grant laughed quietly.
“That sounds like a lot.”
“Sometimes reputation is harder for people to risk.”
He nodded.
“I spent my whole life trying to look successful.”
“And?”
“Tonight I realized I don't know what successful means.”
I smiled.
“Welcome to the club.”
At midnight, my secure phone buzzed.
A message.
TRANSPORT CONFIRMED.
0600 HOURS.
WASHINGTON.
Mom read it over my shoulder.
“Six?”
“Yes.”
“You haven't slept.”
“I'll sleep on the plane.”
“No, you won't.”
“I probably won't.”
She sighed.
Then she looked at me.
“Nathan.”
“What?”
“Take the job.”
I smiled.
“You too?”
“I spent thirty-four years watching young people become who they were supposed to become.”
She touched my face.
“You've spent twenty years running toward people on their worst day.”
Her eyes filled.
“Maybe now you're supposed to teach others how.”
I looked at Grant.
He nodded.
“Take it.”
Olivia smiled.
“Definitely take it.”
I looked around the room.
For years, I had thought my family didn't understand me.
Maybe I hadn't given them much opportunity.
“All right.”
Mom's eyebrows rose.
“All right what?”
“I'll hear them out.”
Grant laughed.
“That is the most Nathan answer possible.”
But twelve hours later, standing inside a secure conference room in Washington, I realized they weren't asking me to hear them out.
May you like
They were waiting for my answer.
And the President was sitting across the table.
