Chapter 9 - The Traitor in Nathan's Circle
Nathan did not tell anyone what Margaret had said.
Not immediately.
He looked at Detective Mills.
Then Marcus.
Then Evelyn on the video screen.
Someone still standing beside him.
It could mean physically beside him in Vermont.
It could mean professionally.
It could mean someone who had remained loyal to the Cole family since Caroline's death.
Nathan hated uncertainty more than bad news.
Uncertainty made everyone dangerous.
On the flight back to New York, he asked Marcus how long he had worked for the family.
"Nine years."
"So you never knew my mother."
Marcus looked at him carefully.
"No."
Nathan nodded.
That did not eliminate him from Victoria's current conspiracy, but it eliminated him from Caroline's death.
Mills had been a teenager nineteen years earlier.
Evelyn had represented one of Richard's competitors at the time.
Then Nathan thought of Robert Sloane.
Sloane had been Richard's chief financial officer when Caroline died.
He had helped manage the crisis after the accident.
He had become board chairman two years later.
He had requested Nathan's emergency suspension that morning.
Nathan sent Marcus one text.
Dig into Sloane.
No company systems.
They reached the law office shortly after dusk.
Lily ran toward Grace first.
Then she saw Nathan behind her and stopped.
Nathan crouched.
For a second, Lily seemed unsure whether she was allowed to run to him.
He opened his arms.
She launched herself forward.
Nathan caught her.
The impact nearly knocked him backward.
"You came back."
Her voice was muffled against his shoulder.
Nathan held her more tightly.
"I told you I'd try."
"You did it."
Grace watched them with tears in her eyes.
Nathan had negotiated billion-dollar acquisitions without feeling half as terrified as he felt holding his daughter.
He wanted five stolen years returned immediately.
He wanted first steps, fevers, birthdays, nightmares, preschool drawings, and every ordinary morning his father had decided he did not deserve.
Instead he had one evening.
So he sat on the floor with Lily and let her explain why purple dinosaurs were better than green ones.
For twenty minutes, he did not discuss murder, trusts, or forged records.
Then Marcus entered and quietly asked Nathan to step outside.
"Sloane has been taking money."
Nathan's brief peace disappeared.
"From whom?"
"A foundation in the Cayman Islands."
"Kensington?"
"Indirectly."
Marcus handed him a tablet.
Over eighteen years, Robert Sloane had received more than seven million dollars through consulting entities.
The earliest payment occurred three weeks after Caroline's death.
Nathan stared at the date.
"Find him."
"Already did."
"Where?"
"At Cole Tower."
Nathan frowned.
"The building should be nearly empty."
"He's in Richard's office."
Nathan looked toward the conference room where Detective Mills was speaking to Evelyn.
"Do not tell Mills yet."
Marcus studied him.
"Because of Margaret's warning?"
Nathan's eyes narrowed.
"How do you know about that?"
Marcus froze.
Nathan had not told him.
For one awful second, neither man moved.
Then Marcus slowly took out his phone.
"Because Margaret called me."
Nathan's voice dropped.
"When?"
"Twenty minutes ago."
"Why would she call you?"
"She didn't."
Marcus unlocked the phone and played a voicemail.
Margaret's voice spoke quietly.
"Mr. Hale, if Nathan is with you, tell him the man beside him is Robert Sloane."
Nathan exhaled.
"Why didn't you tell me immediately?"
"Because I wanted to confirm Sloane's location before you walked into another trap."
Nathan stared at him.
Trust had become a physical burden.
"Next time, tell me first."
"Understood."
They brought Mills in.
Within an hour, a warrant team entered Cole Tower.
Sloane was not in Richard's office anymore.
But the portrait compartment was open.
The ledger was gone.
Nathan's copy remained with Evelyn, but the original evidence had been stolen from police-sealed premises.
Mills was furious.
"Only four people knew the evidence was here."
Nathan looked at him.
"More than four."
A building access log showed Sloane's credentials opening the executive floor.
Security video showed him carrying a leather case toward the garage.
Then another camera showed something unexpected.
Victoria was waiting beside his car.
They argued.
There was no audio.
Sloane tried to walk away.
Victoria blocked him.
Finally, Sloane handed her the leather case.
Nathan watched the footage twice.
"He gave her the ledger."
Mills nodded.
"Looks that way."
"Why steal it if we already scanned every page?"
Evelyn answered.
"Because maybe the ledger contains something we haven't understood yet."
Nathan remembered the codes beside several entries.
C.C.
V.K.
R.S.
And one repeated symbol shaped like a triangle.
They had assumed it was an accounting mark.
Perhaps it was not.
Marcus located Sloane's car abandoned in a parking garage.
Blood stained the passenger seat.
Nathan stared at another vehicle connected to another missing witness.
"Edwin's car had blood too."
Mills nodded.
"Same pattern."
"Are they killing them?"
"Or making us think they are."
Nathan's phone vibrated.
This time the caller ID showed Robert Sloane.
Mills motioned for him to answer on speaker.
Nathan accepted.
Sloane was breathing hard.
"Nathan."
"Where are you?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Did Victoria take the ledger?"
Sloane laughed bitterly.
"Victoria takes everything."
"What did you do for her father?"
Silence.
"Robert."
"I cleaned up Caroline's accident."
Nathan's entire body went still.
Grace, standing in the doorway, heard him.
"What does that mean?"
Sloane began crying.
"Victor called me before the police did."
Nathan gripped the table.
"Why?"
"Because he knew about the crash before the police."
Mills leaned toward the phone.
"Mr. Sloane, I need your location."
"No."
"You are in danger."
"I have been in danger for nineteen years."
Nathan's voice sharpened.
"What did you clean up?"
Sloane whispered the answer.
"A second car."
Nathan felt the room tilt.
"There was another car at the crash?"
"Yes."
"Whose?"
Sloane inhaled shakily.
"Victor's."
Grace covered her mouth.
Nathan closed his eyes.
"Was he driving?"
"I never saw the driver."
"Then what did you do?"
"I paid the tow operator to remove it before state police arrived."
Mills cursed.
"Who ordered you?"
Sloane whispered.
"Richard."
Nathan opened his eyes.
His father had helped conceal evidence at his own wife's fatal crash.
"Why?"
Sloane began to answer.
A sharp sound came through the phone.
Then another.
Sloane gasped.
The line went silent.
"Robert!"
Nathan shouted his name.
No answer.
Then a woman's voice came through the phone.
Calm.
Familiar.
May you like
"You should have married me, Nathan."
Victoria disconnected.
