Chapter 4 - The Man Nathan Trusted Most
Marcus Hale answered Nathan’s call on the second ring.
“Nathan.”
His voice was warm.
Concerned.
Perfect.
“I heard something happened at your estate.”
Nathan stood outside Whitmore Farm while police moved around him.
“How did you hear?”
A brief pause.
“Board security received an alert.”
Nathan almost smiled.
The board security system had not been notified.
“Interesting.”
Marcus changed tone.
“What happened?”
“Grace Bennett is alive.”
Silence.
Half a second.
Maybe less.
But Nathan heard it.
Then Marcus said.
“I don’t know who that is.”
Nathan stared into the dark.
“Of course.”
He disconnected.
Grace watched him.
“He lied.”
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
“Marcus never asks questions when he already knows the answer.”
Grace nodded toward the archive.
“He signed the memo.”
Nathan looked at it again.
Marcus Hale had been at Nathan’s father’s funeral.
He had stood beside Nathan when Richard Cole’s plane went down.
He had told Nathan grief made people vulnerable.
He had helped stabilize Cole Meridian.
He had taught Nathan not to let anyone see his hands shake.
Nathan suddenly wanted to break his.
Eli approached.
“Daniel Price is stable enough for ten minutes.”
Nathan looked at Grace.
She was already walking toward the car.
The hospital placed Daniel under police guard.
Grace entered first.
Daniel Price looked older than she remembered.
Less frightening.
That did not help.
He saw her.
His eyes filled with something close to shame.
“Grace.”
“Do not say my name like you know me.”
Daniel lowered his eyes.
Fair.
Nathan stood beside her.
“You threatened my unborn daughter.”
Daniel nodded.
“Yes.”
“Who hired you?”
“Charles.”
“Marcus?”
“Not at first.”
Grace crossed her arms.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel swallowed.
“Charles wanted you gone.”
“Marcus wanted you dead.”
The room changed.
Nathan stepped forward.
“Say that again.”
“Marcus said relocation was unstable.”
“He said people come back.”
“He wanted the pregnancy ended.”
Grace went very still.
“How?”
Daniel looked at her.
“I refused that job.”
Grace laughed bitterly.
“You threatened to take my baby but drew the line at killing her?”
“Yes.”
“At the time I thought that made me decent.”
“It didn’t.”
“No.”
Nathan asked.
“What did Marcus want done?”
“Contaminated prenatal medication.”
Grace touched her stomach instinctively even though five years had passed.
Nathan felt nausea rise.
“Did he attempt it?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Daniel looked toward the door.
“Victoria.”
Nathan stared.
“What about her?”
“She overheard Marcus and Charles.”
“She threatened to expose them if anyone physically harmed Grace.”
Grace’s face changed.
Nathan remembered Victoria saying:
That was not what he was supposed to say.
Daniel continued.
“Victoria agreed Grace had to leave.”
“She agreed the pregnancy could not be acknowledged.”
“But she refused physical harm.”
Grace said.
“That doesn’t make her good.”
“No.”
Daniel nodded.
“But it kept you alive.”
Nathan looked through the glass.
Victoria stood outside the room.
She had heard enough.
She looked at Grace.
Grace looked back.
No forgiveness.
But the story had become less simple.
Nathan returned to Daniel.
“Why did Marcus change the plan this week?”
“Because Grace came back.”
“Charles wanted the legal contingency.”
“Frame Grace.”
“Take Lily temporarily.”
“Challenge paternity.”
“Delay the trust.”
“Marcus thought it was too risky.”
“So he ordered the kidnapping.”
“Yes.”
“And planned to kill them.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“I think so.”
Grace’s jaw tightened.
“Think?”
“The message came through a broker Marcus uses.”
“I intercepted part of it.”
“That’s why I came to Nathan’s property.”
“To warn us?”
Daniel nodded.
“Too late to make me a good man.”
“But yes.”
Nathan asked.
“Why?”
Daniel looked toward the ceiling.
“I have a granddaughter now.”
“She’s three.”
“I looked at her one day and remembered what I said to Grace.”
“I stopped sleeping.”
Grace did not soften.
Good.
Daniel did not deserve easy absolution.
Nathan said.
“Tell me where Marcus is.”
“I don’t know.”
“Then tell me what he’s afraid of.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Your father.”
Nathan frowned.
“My father is dead.”
“Exactly.”
Daniel’s answer made Nathan cold.
“What does that mean?”
“Richard kept records.”
“Private records.”
“He stopped trusting Charles.”
“He stopped trusting Marcus.”
Nathan remembered his father’s increasing paranoia before the plane crash.
Locked drawers.
Sudden meetings.
Arguments he refused to explain.
Daniel continued.
“Six months before he died, Richard started investigating aircraft maintenance payments.”
Nathan stopped breathing.
Grace looked at him.
“Aircraft?”
Daniel nodded.
“Marcus was paying a contractor connected to the company hangar.”
Nathan’s voice became quiet.
“My father died in a plane crash.”
“I know.”
Daniel’s eyes moved to him.
“And three days before the crash, Richard met Charles at the lake cabin.”
Nathan felt something tighten in his chest.
“The cabin in the photograph.”
Grace whispered.
Nathan nodded.
Daniel said.
“There may still be recordings there.”
“Richard had an analog system.”
“Not connected to any network.”
Nathan turned to leave.
Grace followed.
Daniel called after them.
“Nathan.”
He stopped.
“Do not call anyone at Cole Meridian.”
“Why?”
“Because Marcus has people inside your legal office.”
Nathan thought of Rebecca Sloan.
His general counsel.
The woman who had handled every merger document.
Every trust filing.
Every estate review.
Grace saw his face.
“Who?”
“Someone I trust.”
Daniel laughed weakly.
“That’s exactly the problem.”
Nathan did not go directly to the lake.
First he moved Lily to a secure location known only to Eli, Grace, and Nathan.
Victoria asked to come.
Grace refused.
Victoria accepted it.
That acceptance mattered more than another argument would have.
Lily slept in the car beside Grace.
Nathan watched from the opposite seat.
Her face looked peaceful.
Too young to know adults had almost turned her into a transaction.
Grace noticed Nathan watching.
“You don’t have to stare every second.”
“Yes, I do.”
“No.”
“He took her twice in one night.”
“And she’s back.”
Nathan looked at Grace.
“I missed four years.”
Her expression softened.
“That is not fixed by watching her sleep.”
“I know.”
“You keep saying that.”
“I learned from Victoria.”
Grace almost smiled.
Almost.
The lake cabin appeared after midnight.
The same porch.
Same stone chimney.
Same water.
Grace stared through the windshield.
“We were happy here.”
Nathan answered.
“Yes.”
“That feels like somebody else’s life.”
“It was.”
They entered with Eli.
The cabin had been untouched for months.
Nathan went directly to the fireplace.
Richard had once told him never to trust anything “smart” when a dumb machine could do the job.
Nathan had laughed.
Now he searched for an analog recording compartment.
Grace found it.
Not Nathan.
She noticed one stone with a tiny scratch along the edge.
Behind it sat a steel box.
Microcassettes.
Dozens.
Nathan’s hands trembled.
Grace saw.
“You don’t have to pretend.”
“What?”
“That your hands aren’t shaking.”
Nathan looked at her.
She continued.
“You don’t negotiate with me.”
He breathed out.
“Okay.”
They found tape nine.
Richard’s voice filled the cabin.
“You moved Elena without my consent.”
Charles answered.
“You were about to destroy your family.”
“She is carrying my son.”
“She already gave birth.”
Silence.
Then Richard.
“What?”
“And you are not going near either of them.”
Grace looked at Nathan.
Nathan stared at the recorder.
Richard continued.
“You don’t decide that.”
“I just did.”
“If anything happens to Elena or that boy, I expose every payment.”
“Every forged affidavit.”
“Every judge.”
“Every doctor.”
“Every account.”
Charles laughed.
“You think you can threaten me?”
Richard’s voice hardened.
“I’m telling you the partnership is over.”
Static.
Then another voice entered.
Marcus Hale.
“Nobody is ending anything.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
Marcus.
His mentor.
Richard said.
“You’re both finished.”
Marcus responded.
“You won’t make Monday.”
The tape ended.
Grace stopped breathing.
Nathan rewound.
Played it again.
Same words.
You won’t make Monday.
Richard’s plane crashed Sunday night.
Grace whispered.
“Nathan.”
He could not answer.
Headlights appeared outside.
Eli moved to the window.
“No vehicles scheduled.”
Nathan looked toward the road.
A black SUV stopped.
Grace reached for the fireplace poker.
Nathan almost told her no.
Then remembered Whitmore Farm.
May you like
He let her take it.
The cabin door exploded inward.
