Chương 11
“Yes.”
I laughed once.
It sounded brittle.
“Everyone keeps saying that like it makes sense.”
“It did to him.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
“No.”
I looked toward the NICU doors.
“Did Dad know you had buried the incident reports when he made the trust plan?”
“Yes.”
“So he still kept you involved.”
Evelyn’s face changed.
“He did.”
“Why?”
“Because he believed guilt made me useful.”
The answer was so specific that I stopped.
Grant looked at her.
Evelyn continued.
“He told me I had forfeited the right to ask for his trust, so I would spend the rest of my career earning what I could not recover.”
No one spoke.
It sounded like my father.
Not noble.
Not forgiving.
Practical in a way that could be cruel.
I could almost hear his voice.
“If Dad wanted the patents returned for a dollar, why did Northstar pay thirty-four million?”
Evelyn looked at Grant.
This time, he answered.
“Because Aurelius had changed.”
“How?”
“The original owners diluted.”
“Who?”
“Brightwell entered.”
“Without Dad’s approval.”
“He was already dead.”
“How did Brightwell get in?”
Grant looked at Evelyn.
She looked away.
I felt my anger sharpen.
“Which one of you knows?”
“Neither of us,” Grant said.
“That’s convenient.”
“It’s true.”
Lena opened her laptop again.
“Brightwell’s equity entry appears eighteen months after Robert’s death.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“What was the consideration?”
“Nominal cash plus assumption of consulting obligations.”
“How nominal?”
“Fifty thousand.”
Grant stared at her.
“That’s impossible.”
“Why?”
“Eighteen percent of Aurelius for fifty thousand?”
“Plus obligations.”
“What obligations?”
Lena scrolled.
“Engineering support contracts tied to Vela remediation.”
Grant’s face tightened.
“Those contracts were supposed to belong to Northstar.”
“Apparently some were novated.”
“By whom?”
“I don’t have the signature packet yet.”
He swore softly.
Evelyn’s voice changed.
“Find it.”
Lena looked at her.
“I was planning to.”
“I mean now.”
“I heard you the first time.”
Daniel glanced toward Evelyn.
“You are currently conflicted.”
“So is everyone in this hallway.”
“That does not remove the conflict.”
“No, Daniel.”
She looked tired rather than angry.
“It merely makes it crowded.”
My phone vibrated again.
Martin was still on speaker but another message appeared over the call.
Melissa.
Grant’s head turned when he saw her name.
I opened it.
He’s awake.
He squeezed my finger.
I looked at Grant.
“Your son is awake.”
He closed his eyes briefly.
Then he nodded.
“Good.”
“Go.”
He stayed where he was.
I almost snapped at him.
Then I understood.
“You think if you leave, we’ll decide what happened without you.”
His face gave him away.
“Yes.”
The admission was quiet.
I stared at him.
“Your son is in intensive care, and you are worried about losing control of the narrative.”
“That is not what I said.”
“It is what you meant.”
His jaw tightened.
“I am worried that people who have spent years hiding things are about to agree that I was the only problem.”
Evelyn stood.
“You embezzled company money.”
Grant looked at her.
“That has not been established.”
“Your CFO’s apartment was paid through vendors.”
“I know.”
“Her car.”
“I know.”
“Consulting payments.”
“I know.”
He turned to me.
“I did not authorize the fake consulting invoices.”
The certainty in his voice made me pause.
“You expect me to believe Melissa did that alone?”
“No.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I paid for the apartment.”
I felt the air leave my lungs.
Grant kept speaking before I could.
“Personally.”
“Then why does Lena have Northstar vendor records?”
“Because someone reimbursed me through expenses I never submitted.”
Lena looked up sharply.
“That is not what the ledger shows.”
“I know what I paid.”
“From what account?”
“My private investment account.”
“Which bank?”
He named it.
Lena typed quickly.
“You’ll consent to verification?”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Think carefully.”
“I already did.”
Grant did not take his eyes off me.
“I paid for the apartment because Melissa was pregnant.”
The words cut despite everything I already knew.
“I bought the car because hers broke down.”
I almost laughed.
“A luxury SUV?”
“She refused the first car.”
“Of course she did.”
Grant flinched.
I hated that the small cruelty felt good.
Then I hated myself for enjoying it.
He rubbed his forehead.
“I know how it sounds.”
“No, I think you know exactly how it sounds.”
He lowered his hand.
“But I did not route Northstar money to her.”
Lena stopped typing.
“Your private account received two transfers from Brightwell.”
Grant turned to her.
“What?”
“Last year.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Four hundred thousand total.”
Grant went pale.
“I never saw that.”
“Then either you are lying or someone put money into your account without your knowledge.”
“Why would anyone do that?”
Daniel answered quietly.
“To make later payments look like company-funded benefits.”
The hallway went still again.
Grant stared at him.
“So someone was building a trail.”
“Possibly.”
“For what?”
“No idea.”
I looked at Lena.
“When were the Brightwell transfers?”
She gave me the dates.
One was two weeks before Melissa’s apartment purchase.
The other was three days before the SUV payment.
Grant shook his head.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“Claire, I swear to you.”
I held up a hand.
“Do not swear.”
He stopped.
“I don’t have room for vows from you tonight.”
Something in his face crumpled.
Not dramatically.
Just enough.
I looked away.
The NICU door opened again.
This time Melissa appeared in a wheelchair pushed by a nurse.
She looked smaller than I expected.
Her hospital gown was covered by a pale blue robe, her hair was tied badly at the back of her head, and there were dark circles under her eyes.
When she saw me, shame moved across her face before anything else.
Then she saw Grant.
“Why are you out here?”
He crossed to her.
“I was coming back.”
“No, you weren’t.”
“I was.”
“You’ve been gone twenty minutes.”
“I’m sorry.”
She looked past him at all of us.
May you like
“What is this?”
“No one needs to discuss this with you tonight,” I said.
