Chapter 4 - Nathan Cole Answered on the First RingNathan answered immediately.
“Maddox?”
“Where are you?”
“Office. Why?”
“I need you at the house.”
There was a pause.
“What happened?”
“Come here.”
“Maddox—”
“Now.”
He ended the call.
Brielle looked furious.
“You don't know what you're doing.”
“That's becoming obvious.”
Silas stayed near the bookshelf.
He looked exhausted.
Maddox understood why.
Thirty minutes earlier, he had almost attacked him.
“Silas.”
His brother looked over.
“I owe you an apology.”
“Later.”
“No.”
Silas waited.
“I believed her without asking you one question.”
Brielle laughed bitterly.
“Oh, please.”
Maddox looked at her.
“Not one.”
Silas's expression softened slightly.
“You thought your wife was hurt.”
“I still should have listened.”
“Yes.”
The answer stung.
Silas did not make it easier.
Maddox respected him for that.
Brielle sat on the sofa.
“So what now? You two become best friends again and decide I'm evil?”
Maddox looked at her.
“I haven't decided anything except that you fabricated an assault.”
Her eyes filled.
“I panicked.”
“You ripped your own clothes.”
“I panicked.”
“You screamed before I entered.”
“Yes.”
“You told me he attacked you.”
“I was scared.”
“Of what?”
Brielle stared at Silas.
“Of him destroying everything.”
There.
The real motive again.
Not physical fear.
Silas knew something.
Forty minutes later, Nathan arrived.
He walked into a room containing Maddox, Silas, Brielle, and a baby camera still glowing green.
“What happened?”
Maddox did not answer the question.
“What is Hartwell Advisory?”
Nathan froze.
It lasted perhaps half a second.
Maddox saw it.
Silas saw it.
Brielle closed her eyes.
Nathan recovered.
“A consulting company.”
“Whose?”
“I don't know.”
Maddox laughed.
“Wrong answer.”
Nathan looked at Brielle.
That was his second mistake.
Maddox felt something inside him sink.
“How much have we paid them?”
Nathan loosened his tie.
“I'd have to check.”
“Eight hundred thousand.”
“If that's what Silas found—”
“You know he found it?”
Nathan stopped.
Silas spoke.
“I emailed you yesterday asking for vendor documentation.”
“Yes.”
“And you didn't respond.”
“I've been busy.”
Maddox stepped closer.
“Who owns Hartwell?”
Nathan looked toward the door.
“Nathan.”
“Tessa Ward.”
“Brielle's friend.”
“Yes.”
“What does Hartwell do for us?”
“Market strategy.”
“Show me.”
“I don't have the contracts here.”
“They're in the system.”
“Then we can pull them.”
Nathan hesitated.
Maddox's voice became quiet.
“Why are you afraid to open the system?”
“I'm not.”
“Do it.”
Nathan used Maddox's study computer.
He logged into Mercer Development's financial portal.
Hartwell Advisory.
Six invoices.
Three approved by Nathan.
Two by Maddox's credentials.
One by the CEO office administrative account.
Maddox stared.
“I approved none.”
Nathan looked pale.
“Then your credentials were compromised.”
“By whom?”
“No idea.”
Brielle stood.
“This has nothing to do with me.”
Silas looked at her.
“You knew Hartwell existed.”
“So?”
“You knew I was investigating it.”
“So?”
“You knew Nathan created it.”
Everyone turned.
Nathan stared.
“I didn't create Hartwell.”
Brielle realized what she had said.
Maddox slowly faced her.
“You told me Nathan created it.”
“I meant he arranged the consulting relationship.”
“No.”
“You misunderstood.”
Maddox laughed.
“Interesting.”
Brielle's face hardened.
“Stop talking to me like I'm stupid.”
“I don't think you're stupid.”
That was the problem.
This had planning behind it.
Maddox turned to Nathan.
“Did you create Hartwell?”
Nathan said nothing.
“Answer me.”
“No.”
“Did you help Tessa create it?”
Silence.
Maddox stepped back.
Nathan rubbed his face.
“It's complicated.”
Silas almost laughed.
“No, that's usually what people say right before something becomes very simple.”
Nathan looked at him sharply.
Maddox stayed focused.
“Where did the money go?”
Nathan swallowed.
“Not where you think.”
“I don't know where to think.”
Nathan sat.
“Tessa kept twenty percent.”
“For what?”
“Administrative expenses.”
“And the rest?”
Nathan looked at Brielle.
She stared at him in warning.
Maddox saw.
“Do not look at my wife. Look at me.”
Nathan did.
“Some went to a private account.”
“Whose?”
Nathan hesitated.
“Brielle's.”
Silence.
Maddox felt as if the room shifted.
“How much?”
“About four hundred seventy thousand.”
Brielle immediately said:
“That money was mine.”
Maddox turned.
“From my company?”
“I invested in something for us.”
“What?”
No answer.
Nathan continued.
“The rest went to another company.”
“Whose?”
“I don't know.”
“Name.”
“Blue Hollow Capital.”
Silas frowned.
“I've seen that.”
“Where?”
“In Dad's old notes.”
Maddox stared.
“What?”
Silas moved toward the desk.
“Everett wrote the initials BHC in the margin beside Corbett.”
Brielle's face changed.
Nathan's did too.
Maddox looked between them.
“Why does a company my father investigated five years ago connect to money Brielle is taking today?”
Nobody answered.
Then Nathan said:
“Because Hartwell wasn't Brielle's idea.”
Maddox stared.
“Whose was it?”
Nathan looked terrified now.
“Your father's.”
Silas stepped forward.
“Our father is dead.”
Nathan nodded.
“I know.”
“Then explain.”
Nathan swallowed.
“Everett created Blue Hollow Capital before he died.”
May you like
And suddenly the story was no longer only about money stolen from Mercer Development.
It was about something their father had hidden from both sons.
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