Chapter 12 - GREGORY VOSS
Gregory Voss agreed to meet me before I found Sydney.
That frightened me.
Powerful men did not volunteer for conversations unless they believed they controlled the outcome.
His office occupied the top floor of a glass tower.
No visible security.
No nervous employees.
No sign that federal investigators had begun quietly examining his businesses.
He greeted me like a client.
“Meline.”
“Gregory.”
“You look like Evelyn.”
“I’ve been told.”
He smiled.
“She disliked me.”
“She apparently had good instincts.”
His smile remained.
I placed a photograph on his desk.
Him.
Grandma.
Dad.
Marcus’s father.
Stephen Cole.
Northstar.
“You knew them all.”
“Yes.”
“You were part of Northstar.”
“Yes.”
The easy admissions unsettled me.
“Did you steal from it?”
“No.”
“Did my father?”
“Yes.”
“Did Stephen?”
“Yes.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
I leaned back.
“That sounds convenient.”
“It is also true.”
Gregory claimed Northstar collapsed because Stephen and Robert expanded into fraud.
Grandma discovered it.
Marcus’s father documented it.
Gregory claimed he tried to leave.
No one believed anyone else.
Everyone created insurance.
Everyone lied.
“Did you kill Marcus’s father?”
“No.”
“Did Stephen?”
“I suspect so.”
“What about Grandma?”
His eyes changed.
“She was already dying.”
Again.
The same phrase.
“Did anyone accelerate it?”
Silence.
“Gregory.”
“I don’t know.”
I did not believe him.
Then I asked the question that mattered personally.
“Is Sydney your daughter?”
For the first time, his mask slipped.
“Yes.”
The answer was quiet.
“When did you know?”
“Before she was born.”
“Does Sydney know?”
“She does now.”
My stomach tightened.
“You spoke to her?”
“This morning.”
“Where is she?”
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“That is her decision.”
I stood.
“You don’t get to become protective after thirty years.”
His expression hardened.
“You know nothing about what I was allowed to do.”
“Allowed?”
“Your mother made choices.”
“So did you.”
He accepted that.
Then he said something unexpected.
“I never wanted your family to target you.”
I laughed.
“Your company funded entities connected to Jason.”
“Not under my instruction.”
“Your employee is Jason’s father.”
“Stephen is not my employee.”
“What is he?”
Gregory looked out the window.
“My problem.”
That answer felt true.
Stephen had used Voss-linked companies.
Maybe Gregory was not the center.
Maybe he was another branch.
That was what made Northstar so difficult.
Everyone was guilty of something.
Nobody was guilty of everything.
Before I left, Gregory handed me a folder.
“What’s this?”
“Proof that your mother contacted Stephen two years ago.”
My pulse changed.
“Why?”
“To arrange Jason.”
My mother had restarted an old criminal connection to send Jason into my life.
Gregory continued.
“She believed Robert’s company would collapse.”
“She wanted your trust.”
“She believed a marriage could create access.”
“But Stephen wanted more.”
“CipherStone.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Gregory looked at me.
“Because your company found him.”
Northstar had unknowingly started tracing Stephen’s modern network.
Jason was sent initially for my trust.
Then Stephen realized who I was.
The CEO of the company quietly investigating him.
Suddenly marrying me offered two prizes.
My assets.
And access to CipherStone.
I took the folder.
“One question.”
Gregory nodded.
“Why did Grandma say Sydney was in danger?”
His face changed.
Before he answered, his office door opened.
Sydney entered.
Her eyes were swollen.
She looked at me.
Then at Gregory.
“I’m staying here.”
I stared at her.
“With him?”
“He’s my father.”
“So is Terrence your husband.”
She flinched.
Good.
Some truths should hurt.
Gregory intervened.
“She needs time.”
I turned toward him.
“You don’t get to speak for her.”
Sydney whispered.
“He told me everything.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“He told you his version.”
She started crying.
“Meline, Mom knew.”
“I know.”
“She kept him away from me.”
“I know.”
“He wanted to know me.”
“Maybe.”
Gregory’s eyes hardened.
I did not care.
“Did he also tell you his businesses moved money for Northstar?”
Sydney looked at him.
That was answer enough.
He had not.
I handed her a copy of Grandma’s ledger page.
Her biological father’s name appeared beside dozens of transactions.
She stared.
Gregory stood.
“Those are not what they look like.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Apparently betrayal really does come with a limited vocabulary.”
Sydney turned toward him.
“What are these?”
He did not answer.
Then a loud noise came from the hallway.
Security moved.
Gregory’s assistant rushed in.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“There’s been an incident downstairs.”
“What kind?”
The assistant looked at me.
“Federal agents.”
Gregory’s face changed.
Not fear.
Surprise.
He had not expected them yet.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
And looked directly at Sydney.
“No.”
Sydney stepped backward.
“What?”
Gregory ended the call.
His face had gone pale.
“Stephen has Terrence.”
Sydney stopped breathing.
And the message delivered to her phone seconds later made the reason brutally clear.
BRING MELINE THE LEDGER.
May you like
THEN BRING HER TO ME.
OR YOUR HUSBAND DOESN’T COME HOME.
