Chapter 8 - The Man Serena Feared
Mason moved into a secure room at Silver Crown under sheriff’s recommendation.
He hated every second.
“I’m an employee at the resort whose owner punched me, and now the owner is paying for my security.”
Derek said, “Technically the company is paying.”
“That makes me feel much better.”
Caleb laughed for the first time in days.
The sound eased something in Derek.
Then Benjamin entered with bad news.
“Mason, the board suspended you.”
Mason stared.
“For what?”
“Pending review of Derek’s assault and Serena’s accusation.”
“You have the video.”
“Yes.”
“Then review complete.”
“It’s corporate risk management.”
Mason looked at Derek.
“Your company is incredible.”
Derek could not defend it.
Grant had approved the suspension.
More pressure.
More isolation.
Olivia’s father received an anonymous offer to buy Parker Lodge at twice market value.
He refused.
An hour later, one of the lodge’s lenders called to demand additional collateral under a covenant no one had enforced in years.
Derek recognized the tactic immediately.
Economic pressure.
Grant was squeezing witnesses through business relationships.
“This is what we do to competitors,” Derek said quietly.
Olivia looked at him.
“We?”
Derek’s expression changed.
“Hale Mountain.”
“No. I asked about you.”
Derek remembered approving aggressive acquisition strategies.
Not illegal.
But designed to make smaller owners surrender.
“I approved strategies like it.”
Olivia nodded.
“So Serena and Grant learned from somewhere.”
The accusation hurt because it was partly true.
Derek was beginning to understand that evil did not always arrive as something foreign.
Sometimes it grew inside habits everyone had rewarded.
That afternoon investigators found the man who broke into Mason’s apartment.
A maintenance contractor named Eric Shaw.
Security footage placed his van nearby.
When questioned, Eric asked for a lawyer.
Then he asked about immunity.
He had been paid five thousand dollars.
By whom?
A woman he knew only as “S.”
He produced encrypted messages.
The sender instructed him to recover “the Hale letter” and leave the photograph.
The payment came from White Pine.
Serena.
The sheriff’s office now had evidence connecting Serena to witness intimidation.
Her bond conditions were tightened.
Her passport was surrendered.
Still, Serena denied everything through counsel.
Then Derek received a direct call.
From Serena.
He almost ignored it.
Benjamin said, “Put it on speaker.”
Derek answered.
“You’re not supposed to contact me about Caleb.”
“I’m contacting you about our marriage.”
“There is no marriage.”
Serena inhaled.
“Grant is using me.”
Derek said nothing.
“You think I planned everything?”
“You released the tube.”
“It wasn’t supposed to go that far.”
Derek’s skin went cold.
Benjamin immediately began writing.
“What does that mean?”
Serena realized what she had said.
“I mean the tube wasn’t supposed to accelerate.”
“Why did you release it?”
“To scare him.”
Derek shut his eyes.
“To scare a six-year-old?”
“He was going to tell you about Grant.”
“What had he heard?”
Silence.
“Serena.”
“He heard us talking about the option agreement.”
“The forged option.”
“I didn’t forge Margaret’s signature.”
“Who did?”
Silence.
Derek looked at Benjamin.
Benjamin motioned for him to keep her talking.
“Grant?”
Serena whispered, “You have no idea what he’s capable of.”
“You were sleeping with him.”
“That was a mistake.”
“You took money.”
“I was protecting myself.”
“With three million dollars?”
Her breath caught.
There.
Confirmation.
Derek continued.
“Why was Caleb supposed to be scared?”
“He kept saying he would tell you.”
“So you put him in a tube.”
“I thought he would stop before the lower slope.”
“There was a wooden barrier.”
“I know!”
Her voice cracked.
Silence followed.
Then Serena said something different.
“He was never supposed to reach it.”
Derek’s stomach twisted.
“What was supposed to happen?”
“He was supposed to hit the soft bank higher up.”
“Why didn’t he?”
“I don’t know.”
Derek remembered the icy groove.
The equipment report.
Someone had scraped packed snow into a narrow channel before Caleb’s run, creating a faster path downhill.
Was that natural?
The resort’s snow team thought it unusual.
Derek lowered his voice.
“Did Grant prepare the slope?”
Serena began crying.
“Derek, listen to me.”
“Did Grant know what you were going to do?”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because if I tell you, he’ll destroy me.”
Derek almost laughed.
“You tried to destroy my son.”
Serena whispered, “Grant has something on me.”
“What?”
A long pause.
Then:
“Emily’s medical records.”
Derek’s face changed.
“What about them?”
May you like
Serena whispered, “Her death wasn’t the first time Grant made a problem disappear.”
The line went dead.
