Chapter 10 - The Board Member Emma Never TrustedPolice reopened questions surrounding Emma’s accident.
Not officially as a homicide.
Not yet.
But enough inconsistencies existed to review evidence.
Grant did not care what label they used.
He wanted the truth.
Margaret sat across from him in the empty bridal dining room.
“What did Emma say about Richard?”
“She thought he was leaking information.”
“To Voss?”
“No.”
Margaret shook her head.
“To someone else.”
Grant frowned.
“Who?”
“She didn’t know.”
“Then why Richard?”
“Because she found messages.”
“What messages?”
“On your laptop.”
Grant stared.
“My laptop?”
“She borrowed it.”
“When?”
“A few weeks before she died.”
Grant remembered.
His personal laptop had broken.
Emma used an older company-issued machine.
“She found archived emails?”
Margaret nodded.
“Between Richard and someone named C.”
Grant’s pulse quickened.
“Charles?”
“She thought so.”
“But Charles says he wasn’t working with Richard.”
“I don’t know who’s lying.”
Neither did Grant.
“What did the emails say?”
“Something about pushing you toward a merger.”
“How?”
Margaret looked uncomfortable.
“Through family pressure.”
Grant felt sick.
“How old were the messages?”
“Before Rose was born.”
So someone had been targeting Grant before Vanessa.
Before Rose became useful.
Perhaps even before Emma discovered Charles.
“What happened to the laptop?”
“I don’t know.”
Grant did.
After Emma died, Richard personally offered to have company IT secure Grant’s devices while he grieved.
Grant had thanked him.
He felt stupid now.
Michael returned with another development.
“Police found Oliver Crane.”
Grant looked up.
“And?”
“He’s willing to cooperate.”
“Why?”
“Because he says he didn’t know the custody evidence was fabricated.”
Grant laughed.
“Everyone suddenly didn’t know.”
“He admits drafting the trust.”
“For Richard?”
“For Charles Voss.”
Interesting.
“What did Voss tell him?”
“That you and Vanessa were voluntarily creating a marital trust before the wedding.”
“And the successor provision?”
“Voss said it was for continuity.”
Grant shook his head.
“Convenient.”
Michael continued.
“But Crane says Richard demanded one additional clause.”
“What?”
“If Grant became subject to any investigation involving child abuse or endangerment, his trustee authority would be automatically suspended pending review.”
Grant went cold.
“They weren’t just staging evidence for custody.”
“No.”
“They were going to use it to remove me from the trust.”
“Yes.”
The pieces fit.
Marry Vanessa.
Grant signs.
Then allegations against Grant emerge.
His authority suspends.
Richard becomes successor trustee.
Control of Harrison shares shifts.
The merger proceeds.
Rose is sent to Margaret.
Charles enters her life.
Everyone gets what they want.
Except Grant.
Except Rose.
Except perhaps Vanessa, who believed she would share control but was actually temporary.
Grant looked toward her.
She sat several chairs away under police supervision.
“Did you know that clause existed?”
Vanessa looked confused.
“What clause?”
Michael explained.
Her face changed.
“No.”
Grant believed her.
Not because he trusted her.
Because fury crossed her face too quickly to fake.
“They were going to remove me too?”
Michael said, “Eventually, you’d have no independent control.”
Vanessa stood.
“Richard told me I’d have seven percent.”
Grant almost smiled bitterly.
“And you believed him.”
Her face twisted.
“You don’t understand.”
“You keep saying that.”
“I gave up everything for this!”
Grant looked at her.
“What exactly did you give up?”
“My life!”
“You were about to take mine.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled.
“Richard promised Lucas would be safe.”
Grant frowned.
“Your brother again.”
“He isn’t just avoiding prison.”
“What does that mean?”
Vanessa looked toward the officers.
Then whispered:
“Lucas works for Voss.”
Grant stared.
“Doing what?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s a lie.”
“He moves money.”
Michael’s expression sharpened.
“For whom?”
“Voss companies.”
“Legally?”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“What do you think?”
Grant understood.
Lucas wasn’t simply a past vulnerability.
He was still inside Charles Voss’s network.
“And Richard controls him?”
“Richard controls everyone.”
Grant shook his head.
“No.”
Vanessa frowned.
“What?”
“Richard works for Charles.”
She looked strangely at him.
“That’s what Charles thinks too.”
Grant stopped.
“What does that mean?”
Vanessa glanced at Michael.
Then back at Grant.
“The man who designed this wasn’t Charles.”
“Then who?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“Richard.”
Grant stared.
“He used Charles’s obsession with Emma.”
Michael leaned forward.
“Used it for what?”
May you like
Vanessa looked at Grant.
“To take both companies.”
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