Chapter 4 - The Missing Page
Grant did not confess.
He did something more useful.
He made a mistake.
“You think Daniel caused the camera outage?” Grant asked.
Nathan stared at him.
“I never said the cameras went out.”
Silence.
Claire looked between them.
Marcus slowly reached for his phone.
Grant’s face changed.
Nathan spoke quietly.
“Sit.”
Grant remained standing.
“You don’t understand what happened.”
“Then explain it.”
Grant looked toward Claire.
“Not in front of her.”
Claire stepped closer.
“My husband’s name is involved. I’m staying.”
Grant laughed bitterly.
“Daniel should have minded his own business.”
Claire went white.
Nathan’s voice became deadly calm.
“What did Daniel discover?”
Grant said nothing.
Nathan continued.
“He was working on the city surveillance system. He found evidence somebody deliberately disabled cameras along my route.”
Grant stared at him.
“And?”
“He confronted you.”
No answer.
Nathan understood.
“Daniel knew.”
Claire whispered, “Knew what?”
Nathan looked at her.
“That someone inside my organization helped arrange the ambush.”
Claire covered her mouth.
“My husband died six months later.”
Grant finally spoke.
“Construction accident.”
Claire’s eyes filled with anger.
“You knew him.”
“I met him.”
“You lied.”
“I never owed you the truth.”
Nathan slammed one hand against his wheelchair armrest.
“You owed me.”
Grant looked at him.
Something broke between them.
Fifteen years vanished in that stare.
“You want the truth?” Grant asked.
Nathan nodded.
“I want all of it.”
Grant’s voice hardened.
“You were becoming impossible.”
Nathan almost laughed.
“That’s your justification?”
“You controlled everything. Every contract. Every decision. Every dollar.”
“It was my organization.”
“We built it together.”
“No. I built it. You helped.”
Grant’s face twisted.
“There. That.”
Nathan understood.
“You wanted my chair.”
“I wanted what I earned.”
“So you arranged an ambush.”
“I arranged pressure.”
Nathan stared.
“Men died.”
“That wasn’t the plan.”
“And my spine?”
Grant looked at the wheelchair.
“A complication.”
Claire whispered, “You monster.”
Grant ignored her.
Nathan asked, “Why keep me alive afterward?”
Grant smiled.
“Because you became perfect.”
Nathan frowned.
“Perfect?”
“A living symbol.”
Grant walked closer.
“The great Nathan Caldwell. Alive enough to sign documents. Broken enough to let me run everything.”
Nathan felt sick.
“You sat beside my hospital bed.”
“I needed to know what you remembered.”
“You helped me through rehabilitation.”
“I needed your trust.”
“You defended me.”
“I protected my investment.”
Nathan looked away for one second.
Then back.
“And Claire?”
Grant’s eyes moved toward her.
“Daniel left records somewhere. I never found them.”
Claire stiffened.
“You thought I had them?”
“I thought you might discover them.”
“So you planted the money.”
“I needed you gone.”
Lily suddenly appeared beside Claire.
Grant looked at the child.
His expression changed.
Nathan saw it.
“Marcus.”
Marcus immediately moved between Grant and Lily.
Grant laughed.
“You think I’d hurt a child?”
Nathan replied, “I no longer know what you’re capable of.”
Grant looked around.
Then smiled again.
“You still have no proof.”
Nathan said nothing.
Grant’s confidence returned.
“Page forty-three proves I made a phone call. That’s it.”
Nathan leaned back.
“You’re right.”
Grant frowned.
Nathan pointed toward the desk.
A small recording device sat beside the lamp.
Marcus smiled.
Grant’s face drained.
Nathan said, “But you just gave me the rest.”
Grant lunged for the recorder.
Marcus intercepted him.
Two security men entered.
Grant struggled once, then stopped.
Nathan watched the man who had been his closest friend for fifteen years.
Grant straightened his jacket.
“You think this ends well for you?”
“I think it ends.”
“Chicago smells weakness.”
Nathan looked down at his useless legs.
“For two years, I thought this chair was my weakness.”
He looked toward Claire and Lily.
“I was wrong.”
Grant sneered.
“You’re still a cripple.”
Claire flinched.
Nathan didn’t.
Instead, he smiled.
“Yet you’re the one being escorted out.”
Marcus took Grant toward the door.
Grant stopped.
“Daniel’s evidence still exists.”
Claire stared at him.
“What?”
“He hid a copy.”
“Where?”
Grant laughed.
“I never found it.”
Nathan’s eyes narrowed.
“Then why mention it?”
“Because somebody else has been looking too.”
Nathan became still.
Grant’s smile returned.
“You thought I was the only traitor?”
The security men dragged him away.
Claire looked at Nathan.
“What does that mean?”
Nathan stared at the empty doorway.
“It means this isn’t finished.”
Then Lily tugged his sleeve.
“Mr. Nathan?”
He looked down.
“Yeah?”
“I know where Daddy hides things.”
Claire froze.
“What did you say?”
May you like
Lily pointed toward the photograph.
“Daddy’s secret box.”
