Chapter 9 - The Cost of Anger
Michael could not forgive himself.
Sofia refused to let him waste time trying.
“Owen is alive.”
“Because police were there.”
“Yes.”
“I gave Grant his name.”
“You made a mistake.”
“I keep making them.”
Sofia looked at him across Eleanor’s office.
“Then stop making the same one.”
“What does that mean?”
“You confront people before you have proof.”
He went still.
“You want to hit something because hitting feels like action.”
Michael’s mouth tightened.
“Careful.”
“No. You be careful. Grant wants you angry.”
Eleanor interrupted.
“She’s right.”
Michael looked betrayed.
His attorney shrugged.
“I bill by the hour. I can afford honesty.”
Detective Brooks entered with records from Blue Heron.
“We identified its beneficial owner.”
Michael leaned forward.
“Grant?”
“No.”
“Who?”
Brooks placed a document on the table.
“Evelyn Hayes.”
Michael stared at his mother’s name.
“That’s impossible.”
“The Illinois filing used an agent, but the bank’s beneficial-ownership certification lists Evelyn.”
Michael sat back.
Sofia watched his face collapse differently than it had with Natalie.
Natalie was a betrayal.
Grant was a suspicion.
His mother was a wound.
Michael called Evelyn.
She demanded they meet at the family home in Winnetka.
The Hayes mansion stood behind iron gates facing Lake Michigan.
Evelyn waited in the library.
She did not hug her son.
“You brought the waitress.”
“Sofia has a name.”
Evelyn looked at her.
“So did the woman who nearly destroyed our family.”
Sofia understood.
“Laura?”
Michael turned sharply.
“Mother.”
Evelyn ignored him.
“Laura saw corruption everywhere.”
“She found eleven million dollars in missing money.”
Evelyn’s eyes flickered.
Michael caught it.
“You knew.”
“I knew Grant had liquidity problems.”
“Eleven million dollars?”
“It wasn’t theft.”
“What was it?”
“Protection.”
Michael laughed.
“From what?”
“From you.”
Silence.
Evelyn approached him.
“Your father always favored you. Grant spent his entire life knowing that no achievement would matter.”
“So you gave him company money?”
“I moved funds into entities he controlled.”
“That is theft.”
“It was family money.”
“It belonged to shareholders.”
Evelyn slapped him.
Sofia moved instinctively.
Michael raised one hand.
“No.”
He looked at his mother.
“You funded Blue Heron.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know Natalie was paid?”
Evelyn’s face changed.
“No.”
“Did you know Grant was sleeping with her?”
The silence became unbearable.
Michael whispered, “You did.”
“I suspected.”
“How long?”
“Months.”
He stepped backward as if she had struck him again.
“You knew my fiancée was having an affair with my brother.”
“I knew you wouldn’t listen.”
“You could have told me.”
“And destroy Emma’s home?”
Michael’s voice broke.
“She tried to murder Emma.”
Evelyn finally lost her composure.
“I did not know that.”
Sofia believed her.
Not because Evelyn was innocent.
Because horror had stripped the pride from her face.
Michael turned toward the door.
His mother called after him.
“There is something else.”
He stopped.
Evelyn gripped the back of a chair.
“Laura made a recording before she died.”
Michael slowly turned.
“What recording?”
“She accused Grant of stealing money.”
“Where is it?”
“I destroyed it.”
Michael stared at her.
Evelyn whispered, “I thought I was saving this family.”
Then Sofia noticed a security camera in the library corner.
Its indicator light was off.
Exactly like the terrace camera.
She looked at Evelyn.
“Who controls your home security?”
Evelyn answered automatically.
“Grant.”
Sofia’s phone rang.
Ben.
His voice was shaking.
“Sofia, someone just broke into Glasswater’s server room.”
“What did they take?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why break in?”
May you like
Ben swallowed audibly.
“Because they set the old security backups on fire.”
