Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN WHO DIED TWICE
Nathan did not touch the mouse.
For several seconds, he could only hear the air conditioner and Lily folding paper behind him.
His mother had died in a car accident twenty-nine years earlier.
He remembered the funeral in fragments.
White flowers.
Rain on black umbrellas.
His father's hand gripping his shoulder too tightly.
A closed casket.
He had been told the injuries were too severe for viewing.
"Open it."
Daniel's voice was barely audible.
Nathan clicked the folder.
Inside were bank records, medical files, and photographs.
The first photograph showed a woman leaving a private psychiatric facility in Wisconsin.
The image was grainy and dated eight years after Evelyn Cole's funeral.
The woman wore dark glasses and carried a canvas bag.
Her face was thinner than Nathan remembered.
But it was his mother.
He knew before Daniel enlarged the photograph.
"No."
Nathan pushed away from the table.
Lily looked up.
Daniel lowered the laptop screen slightly.
"Nathan."
"No."
He walked to the window.
Every instinct in him wanted to reject the image.
Accepting it meant the funeral had been a lie.
It meant his father had let a six-year-old boy grieve a living mother.
It meant every birthday Nathan had spent wondering what she would have said to him had been built on deliberate cruelty.
Daniel opened another file.
"There are payments to St. Catherine Behavioral Center for thirteen years."
Nathan turned.
"From my father?"
"From a holding company controlled by Vale Capital."
Conrad.
Nathan looked at the screen again.
A scanned legal order declared Evelyn incompetent and placed her finances under a private guardian.
The guardian was Caleb Rourke.
"He kept her prisoner."
Daniel read carefully.
"Maybe."
"Do not say maybe to me."
"The records say she was committed after a suicide attempt and severe psychosis."
Nathan stared at him.
"And you believe records now?"
Daniel stopped.
That was the problem.
Every document could be true.
Every document could be planted.
Nothing could be trusted because someone had spent decades creating official versions of lies.
Detective Quinn entered the room.
"We located Victoria's sedan."
Nathan moved toward her.
"Where?"
"Abandoned near the river."
"Grace?"
"No sign of her."
Nathan's jaw tightened.
Quinn noticed the laptop.
"What did you find?"
Daniel turned the screen toward her.
"Evidence that Nathan's mother may have survived the accident that supposedly killed her."
Quinn read the folder title.
Her face gave nothing away.
"We verify before we conclude."
Nathan almost snapped at her.
Then he stopped himself.
She was the only officer who had not treated Grace like a criminal.
"Do it quickly."
Quinn nodded.
"I also need you to know something about Victoria."
"What?"
"Her attorney produced medical records claiming she has been treated for panic disorder and that Grace triggered an episode by threatening to expose an affair."
Nathan stared at her.
"What affair?"
"According to Victoria, Grace told her you had been sleeping together for months."
Nathan laughed once in disbelief.
"That is insane."
"It does not have to be true to be useful."
Daniel understood first.
"They are building a jealousy defense."
Quinn nodded.
"Victoria says she believed Grace intended to destroy her wedding and abduct a child Victoria thought belonged to someone else."
Nathan's disgust deepened.
"She knew Lily was mine."
"Prove that."
Daniel tapped the red folder.
"The surveillance proves someone knew Grace was in the house."
"It does not prove Victoria saw it."
Nathan thought of the instruction on the photograph.
MOVE BEFORE WEDDING.
"Her father knew."
"That is stronger, but still not enough."
Nathan looked at the clock.
6:42 a.m.
The board meeting began in seventy-eight minutes.
Daniel closed the laptop.
"We need to go."
Nathan looked at him as if he had lost his mind.
"Grace is missing."
"And if you lose the company, Conrad gains control of the security division that is helping Quinn trace her."
Quinn nodded reluctantly.
"He is right."
Nathan looked toward Lily.
"I am not leaving her here."
Quinn pointed toward two officers outside.
"She has protection."
Lily looked at Nathan.
"Go find Mommy."
He crouched beside her.
"I am trying."
"Mommy says rich people have meetings when they do not want to say the truth."
Daniel covered a smile.
Nathan almost did too.
"Your mommy says a lot of things about rich people."
"She says most of them are true."
Nathan looked toward Daniel.
"She will be safe?"
Quinn answered.
"I will stay personally until you return."
Nathan leaned close to Lily.
"If anyone comes near you and Detective Quinn is not here, you yell as loud as you can."
"Even in the hospital?"
"Especially in the hospital."
Lily nodded solemnly.
Nathan and Daniel arrived at Cole Tower seven minutes before the meeting.
The lobby was packed with media.
Questions hit Nathan from every direction.
"Mr. Cole, did your employee kidnap your daughter?"
"Are you ending your engagement to Victoria Vale?"
"Is it true Grace Bennett stole from Cole Holdings?"
"Did you conceal an illegitimate child from investors?"
Nathan stopped at the elevator.
That last question had not come from a journalist near him.
It came from a television screen mounted above the lobby bar.
A financial news anchor was reading a statement issued by Cole Holdings ten minutes earlier.
The statement said the company had recently become aware of serious personal conduct by its CEO that could expose shareholders to legal and reputational risk.
Nathan looked at Daniel.
"Who authorized that?"
"Not me."
They entered the executive elevator.
When the doors opened on the forty-third floor, every director was already seated.
Conrad Vale sat at the far end of the table.
Nathan stopped.
Conrad was not a director.
He should not have been in the room.
"Get out."
Conrad smiled.
"Good morning to you too."
Board chair Samuel Price cleared his throat.
"Nathan, Mr. Vale has been invited as representative of Vale Capital, our largest outside lender."
"He is also a suspect in the disappearance of my daughter's mother."
The room shifted.
Conrad spread his hands.
"That is a serious accusation."
"So sue me."
Samuel tried again.
"We are here to discuss the stability of the company."
Nathan took his seat.
"Then let us discuss it."
The general counsel slid a packet toward him.
"We have received evidence that you transferred two million dollars from a discretionary corporate account to Grace Bennett eighteen months ago."
Nathan stared at the transfer authorization.
His digital signature was on it.
The approval token matched his executive device.
"I did not make this transfer."
Conrad leaned back.
"Convenient."
Daniel examined the page.
"Where did this come from?"
"Internal audit."
Nathan looked around the table.
Half the directors would not meet his eyes.
The trap had been prepared long before Lily said the word Daddy.
Samuel folded his hands.
"The motion is temporary removal pending investigation."
"And who becomes acting CEO?"
Silence.
Nathan already knew.
Samuel looked toward the other end of the table.
A man Nathan had trusted for fourteen years slowly raised his hand.
Evan Cole.
Nathan's cousin.
Chief Financial Officer.
Best man for the wedding that would now never happen.
"I have agreed to serve if the board requests it."
Nathan stared at him.
"You knew."
Evan's face tightened.
"I knew the company was in danger."
"You knew about Grace."
"No."
"You knew about Lily."
"No."
Nathan looked at Conrad.
Conrad did not smile this time.
He did not need to.
Samuel called the vote.
One by one, hands rose.
Nathan counted.
Six in favor.
Two against.
One abstention.
The motion passed.
Samuel spoke carefully.
"Effective immediately, Nathan Cole is placed on administrative leave as chief executive officer."
Security entered the room.
Nathan stood slowly.
"You planned this before last night."
Evan looked away.
Nathan walked toward him.
"Look at me."
Evan did.
"Did you plan this before last night?"
Evan's eyes flicked toward Conrad.
That was enough.
Nathan stepped back.
"Daniel, send the confession to every director."
Conrad's expression sharpened.
Daniel took out his phone.
"Already scheduled."
The directors' phones began buzzing around the table.
Nathan watched Conrad for the first sign of fear.
It came when Samuel opened the attachment.
Conrad immediately stood.
"That document is privileged and illegally obtained."
Nathan almost smiled.
"You just told everyone it matters."
Conrad realized the mistake.
Then Nathan's phone rang.
It was Quinn.
He answered.
"We found Grace."
Nathan gripped the table.
"Where?"
Quinn's next words destroyed the small burst of hope.
"She is alive, but she is under arrest."
"For what?"
"Attempted murder of Victoria Vale."
May you like
Nathan looked across the table at Conrad.
For the first time, Conrad smiled openly.
