Chapter 7 - The Thing Nate Feared
Nate recovered quickly.
He always did.
By the time he crossed the greenhouse, fear had disappeared from his face and concern had replaced it.
"Owen."
He opened his arms.
Owen moved closer to Clare instead.
Nate stopped.
The rejection lasted less than a second, but everyone saw it.
Marisol Vega stepped between the adults.
"Mr. Holloway, your son is safe."
"I can see that."
"He has also made statements that require immediate review."
Nate looked at Owen.
"What statements?"
"I will discuss them with counsel."
Nate's eyes shifted to the evidence bag.
"And that?"
Vega did not look down.
"An item Owen says he removed from your desk while looking for his phone."
Nate's jaw tightened.
"That contains confidential company information."
Daniel spoke from behind Clare.
"Then I am sure you will be eager to explain why it is labeled with the initials of three minor children."
Nate looked at him.
"Stay out of this."
Daniel smiled without humor.
"You filed for divorce."
"I am literally paid to stay in this."
Vega raised her voice slightly.
"Enough."
The greenhouse went quiet.
She looked at Nate.
"Did you take Owen's phone?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"He was using it after bedtime and becoming agitated by messages."
Owen immediately spoke.
"That is not why."
Nate's eyes snapped toward him.
"Owen."
The warning in his voice was subtle.
It was also unmistakable.
Vega noticed.
"Let him answer."
Owen swallowed.
"He took it after I asked about Ethan's papers."
Nate's face remained calm.
"That is not accurate."
Owen flinched.
Clare's hand closed around his shoulder.
Vega watched both reactions.
"Did you take the phone before or after the discussion with Ethan in the library?"
Nate paused.
"After."
"Did Owen ask about the papers?"
Another pause.
"Yes."
"Then his timeline appears accurate."
Nate's eyes cooled.
"A timeline is not motive."
"Correct."
Vega gave him nothing else.
Nate looked at Clare.
"You brought Caleb here."
"He brought me."
"He left school to meet you."
"He left school before he contacted me."
"And now Owen runs away too."
"Owen ran from your house."
The sentence landed exactly where Clare intended.
Nate stepped toward her.
"You are destabilizing them."
Clare did not move.
"You asked them to compete for me."
"That never happened."
Caleb stood.
Everyone turned.
His face was pale, but his voice was steady.
"It happened."
Nate stared at him.
Caleb looked terrified.
He kept speaking anyway.
"You told Mom to pick one of us."
"You told us she had a chance to take one and chose none."
"You keep saying she failed us."
Nate's expression became softer.
"Caleb, you are upset."
"I am."
"Then this is not the time."
Caleb laughed once.
"That is what you say every time I say something you do not like."
Clare felt pride and fear at the same time.
Nate shifted tactics.
"Your mother took you out of school."
"No, she didn't."
"She met you without telling me."
"Because I told her not to tell you."
"You are fourteen."
"I know how old I am."
Nate's face tightened.
Vega stepped closer to Caleb.
"I think both boys need private interviews before anyone leaves."
Nate looked at his attorney, who had arrived behind the SUVs and was now walking toward the greenhouse.
"We have a court order."
"And I am an officer appointed under that order."
Vega's tone became flat.
"If you want to argue, call the judge."
Nate did.
Within forty minutes, Judge Marwick held an emergency conference by phone.
The result was temporary and imperfect.
Owen would spend the night with Clare and Lily at Megan's house.
Caleb would return to the Holloway residence because he had not alleged direct intimidation that made him afraid to return.
Ethan would remain there too.
Vega would interview all four children separately within twenty-four hours.
Nate was ordered not to confiscate phones except for ordinary household discipline and not to discuss succession documents with any child pending the next hearing.
The flash drive would remain sealed with Vega until the court determined whether and how it could be reviewed.
Nate hated every word of the order.
He hid it well.
As everyone prepared to leave, he approached Owen.
"Get your coat from the SUV."
Owen looked at Clare.
Nate corrected himself.
"Your coat is in the SUV."
"You can take it with you to your aunt's house."
It was the first time Clare heard him voluntarily acknowledge Owen was not coming home.
Owen walked with Mercer to retrieve it.
Nate waited until he was out of earshot.
Then he turned to Clare.
"You have no idea what you are doing."
Daniel started toward them.
Clare raised one hand to stop him.
"Neither did your mother, apparently."
Nate's face changed.
Only slightly.
But enough.
Clare knew she had hit something.
"What does that mean?"
"Nothing."
"Clare."
"You are the one who enjoys things people will understand later."
She stepped away.
Nate caught her wrist.
Not hard.
Not enough to injure.
Enough to control.
Daniel moved immediately.
So did Vega.
Nate released her before either reached them.
"Do not threaten me with my mother."
Clare looked down at the place where his fingers had been.
Then back at him.
"I did not threaten you."
"That is the interesting part."
She walked away.
In the car, Owen sat in the back beside Caleb for the short drive to the gate.
They would separate there.
Clare watched them in the mirror.
Neither spoke.
At the gate, Caleb opened the door.
Before getting out, he leaned toward Owen.
"Do not tell Lily she snores."
Owen blinked.
"She does not."
"She absolutely does."
Owen smiled for the first time that day.
Caleb looked at Clare.
His expression became serious.
"Mom."
"Yes?"
"Ethan has another copy."
Clare's pulse jumped.
"Of what?"
Caleb glanced toward the SUV waiting to take him back.
"Whatever is on that drive."
"How do you know?"
"Because he told me if something happened, he made a backup."
"Where?"
Caleb shook his head.
"He would not tell me."
Then he stepped out.
The door closed.
Clare watched him walk toward Mercer.
The drive back from the old estate was quieter than the search had been.
Owen sat in the rear seat wrapped in Evelyn's gardening blanket while Vega rode beside him.
Clare drove.
Daniel followed behind.
Every few minutes Clare looked into the mirror to confirm that Owen was still there.
He noticed on the fourth time.
"Mom, I am not going anywhere."
Clare swallowed.
"Good."
"You keep checking."
"I know."
Owen leaned his head against the window.
"Dad checks too, but it feels different."
Vega looked at him.
"Different how?"
Owen thought for a long time.
"Mom checks if I am okay."
"Dad checks if I am where I am supposed to be."
Clare gripped the steering wheel harder.
Vega wrote nothing down in front of him.
That restraint made Clare trust her more.
Owen looked at the evidence bag containing the flash drive.
"Am I going to get arrested?"
Clare nearly hit the brake.
"No."
Vega answered at the same time.
"No."
Owen looked embarrassed.
"Dad says taking private company information can send people to prison."
Clare glanced at Vega.
"Did he tell you that after you took the drive?"
"No."
"He says it a lot."
Vega spoke gently.
"You are a child who took an object while looking for your phone."
"Adults will handle the legal questions."
"Your job is to tell the truth about what you did and why."
Owen nodded.
Then he asked, "What if the truth makes Dad hate me?"
Clare's eyes burned.
Vega answered before she could.
"A parent's reaction to the truth is the parent's responsibility."
Owen looked at Clare through the mirror.
"Is that true?"
Clare nodded.
"I am trying to learn it too."
That evening at Megan's house, Lily nearly knocked Owen over when he entered.
"You idiot."
She hugged him while saying it.
Owen hugged her back.
"You snore."
Lily gasped.
"Caleb lied."
For ten seconds, the house sounded normal.
Megan ordered pizza.
Owen took a shower.
Lily showed him the guest room where he would sleep.
Clare sat at the kitchen island with Daniel and Vega on speakerphone.
"The drive is our biggest unknown," Daniel said.
"If it contains privileged business data, Nate will fight examination."
Vega responded, "The label matters."
"So does Owen's explanation of where he found it."
Clare asked, "Can we get Ethan's copy?"
Daniel was immediate.
"Do not ask Ethan to remove anything else from that house."
"I was not going to."
"Good."
"Because a child taking documents for a parent during litigation is exactly the story Nate wants."
Clare rubbed her forehead.
"Then what do we do?"
Vega answered.
"I interview Ethan tomorrow."
"Privately."
"If he volunteers that information, I document it."
"If there is a lawful reason to retrieve it, the court decides."
Clare hated waiting.
But she was beginning to understand that impatience was another tool Nate expected to use against her.
At 9:30, Daniel left.
At 10:05, Megan went upstairs.
At 10:20, Clare checked on Lily and Owen.
Both were asleep.
At 10:31, Clare's phone received an email from the Holloway family office.
Subject: Formal Notice to Independent Trust Protector.
Her heart began pounding before she opened it.
Nathaniel knew.
The email was copied to six attorneys and three trustees.
It acknowledged Clare's activation as trust protector.
It demanded that she disclose any communications with Evelyn's attorney.
It accused her of a conflict of interest due to the pending divorce.
It stated that Nathaniel would seek her removal if she took any action affecting trust governance.
Then Clare saw the final attachment.
Petition to Remove Trust Protector.
Filed that afternoon.
Nate had learned about Evelyn's amendment within hours.
Clare called Whitaker immediately.
He answered on the first ring.
"I was expecting you."
"He knows."
"Yes."
"How?"
Whitaker was silent.
Clare stood from the sofa.
"Charles, who told him?"
"I did not."
"Daniel did not."
"Megan did not."
"Then who?"
Whitaker exhaled.
"There were only three other people who knew Evelyn amended the trust."
Clare waited.
"Me."
"Evelyn."
"And Aaron Mercer."
Clare stopped breathing.
"Why would Evelyn tell Mercer?"
"Because she trusted him."
"Then she made a mistake."
Whitaker's silence stretched.
"Maybe."
Clare heard something in his voice.
"What aren't you saying?"
"Evelyn did not merely tell Mercer."
"She gave him a role."
Clare's stomach tightened.
"What role?"
Whitaker answered quietly.
May you like
"He is the alternate trust protector if you are removed."
