Chapter 6 - The Man Between Them
Victoria called Graham to Brackenridge at midnight.
He arrived twenty-three minutes later.
No attorney.
No assistant.
No hesitation.
That should have reassured her.
It did not.
They sat in the library where Graham had proposed eighteen months earlier.
He had hidden the ring inside a first edition of Jane Eyre because Victoria once told him conventional romance bored her.
Now the same fireplace burned behind him.
“What did Edmund say?” Graham asked.
Victoria watched his face.
“He admitted poisoning me.”
Graham exhaled slowly.
“And?”
“He says someone ordered it.”
“Julian?”
“He says no.”
Graham’s expression tightened.
Victoria placed the Sinclair BioDiagnostics transfer authorization on the table.
His signature appeared at the bottom.
“Explain.”
He read it.
“That was routine legal clearance.”
“For an allergen reference material?”
“For relocation between facilities.”
“Why legal?”
“The annex had a licensing issue.”
“Did you physically receive it?”
“No.”
“Did you know Adrian’s token was used?”
“No.”
Victoria placed another document beside it.
Her computer-access log.
Graham’s hardware token.
He looked up.
“You think I opened your trust amendment.”
“I think your token did.”
“You know I lost sight of it at the foundation dinner.”
“I know what you told me.”
Pain appeared in his face.
“That’s where we are?”
“Someone tried to kill me.”
“I know.”
“You also knew my emergency-drawer code.”
“Victoria.”
“You knew the trust amendment existed.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Julian would gain control if I died.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about Luke Carter.”
Graham went silent.
Victoria leaned forward.
“And you knew his wife worked in my house.”
“I recognized Hannah after you hired her.”
Her entire body became still.
“You lied.”
“I didn’t want to alarm you.”
“You told me you didn’t know.”
“I said I didn’t connect the name at first.”
“Tonight you just said you recognized her after I hired her.”
Graham closed his eyes.
Victoria whispered, “How long?”
“A year.”
“You let her stay?”
“I had her monitored.”
Victoria stood.
“You monitored my employee without telling me.”
“Her husband stole from Sinclair.”
“Did he?”
Graham’s face hardened.
“He pleaded guilty.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
He stood too.
“You are letting one attack rewrite every fact in your life.”
“No.”
Victoria stepped closer.
“I’m letting facts rewrite what I believed.”
For a moment Graham looked almost frightened.
Then anger came.
“You want someone to blame? Blame Julian. He has motive. He has access. He has spent twenty years resenting your father’s decision to leave you control.”
“My father didn’t leave me control. My grandfather’s trust did.”
“Same family disease.”
“What disease?”
“Ownership.”
The word landed differently after Ellie.
Victoria studied him.
Graham softened.
“I love you.”
She almost laughed.
“Then tell me the truth.”
“I am.”
“Did you know Edmund was stealing?”
Silence.
There.
Victoria felt it.
“Yes,” Graham said.
“How long?”
“Six months.”
“Did you report him?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I was investigating who else knew.”
“Did Julian know?”
“I believe so.”
“Did you use it against Edmund?”
“No.”
“Did someone?”
“Probably.”
Victoria stared.
Graham stepped closer.
“Listen to me. Adrian is not innocent. Your cousin has been gathering votes against you for months.”
“I know.”
“He has copies of trust documents.”
“I know.”
“He met with Radnor Capital.”
Victoria frowned.
Radnor Capital wanted to purchase Sinclair BioDiagnostics in a $1.6 billion transaction she had blocked.
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“Why wasn’t I told?”
“Because I was still verifying.”
“You keep deciding what I should know.”
“That is my job.”
“No.”
Victoria’s voice sharpened.
“Your job is to give me accurate legal advice.”
Graham stared.
“My life is not a file you curate.”
He left thirty minutes later.
Victoria did not stop him.
At 2:00 a.m., Hannah appeared in the library doorway.
She had been packing.
Victoria frowned.
“You’re leaving?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“You don’t trust me.”
“I don’t know if I trust anyone.”
“That’s not my problem.”
Victoria flinched.
Hannah continued.
“Ellie keeps asking why the police took Mr. Edmund. She thinks she caused it.”
“She exposed him.”
“She’s four.”
Victoria looked down.
“I know.”
“No. You know her age.”
Hannah’s voice softened slightly.
“She needs adults to make this smaller for her, not bigger.”
Victoria absorbed that.
“Are you resigning?”
“I haven’t decided.”
“Then stay until you do.”
Hannah almost refused.
Victoria added, “Not because you owe me.”
That changed something.
Hannah nodded once.
Before leaving, she said, “Ellie remembered the man with black shoes.”
Victoria looked up.
“She did?”
“She drew him.”
Hannah handed over a sheet of paper.
A stick figure.
Black shoes.
A gray tie.
A square shape in one hand.
“Does that mean anything?”
Victoria stared.
Most men at the dinner wore black shoes.
But only one man had worn a gray tie with a silver square tie bar.
Graham.
Victoria’s fiancé.
May you like
The man she had almost married.
And according to Ellie, the man standing beside Edmund before Victoria drank the champagne.
