Chapter 4 - A FRIEND'S VERSION OF THE TRUTH
Nathan placed the photograph on his desk.
Grant studied it without touching it.
“Where did you get this?”
“From a storage unit connected to Dennis Pike.”
Grant gave a small, humorless laugh. “Pike has always been a thief.”
“He was your security supervisor.”
“He was useful. That isn't the same thing.”
“Why were you standing beside the SUV?”
Grant looked at Nathan for a long moment.
“Because I was investigating the crew that attacked you.”
“Before or after the attack?”
“After.”
“The photograph is dated two days before.”
Grant's expression didn't change, but the silence did.
Nathan rolled closer to the desk. “Tell me what happened.”
Grant removed his gloves and set them beside the folder.
“You were going to meet the Vane people that night. I told you not to go.”
“You said the meeting was safe.”
“I said I had no reason to believe it wasn't.”
“Who changed the route?”
Grant looked toward the window.
“I did.”
The words seemed to drain the air from the room.
Nathan stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because the original road had been compromised. I moved the convoy to a route I believed was safer.”
“And the black SUV?”
“I didn't know it was there.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I expect you to remember that I was the one who pulled you out of that vehicle.”
Nathan's voice dropped. “You also told the doctors which hospital to take me to. You controlled who saw me. You controlled the investigation.”
“Because you were vulnerable.”
“Because I couldn't stand.”
Grant's face tightened. “You were alive. That was all that mattered.”
Nathan studied the man he had called brother for twenty years.
“Where is page eighteen?”
“I don't know.”
“Who took it?”
“I don't know.”
“Then why did you enter my office after the ambush file was reopened?”
Grant said nothing.
Nathan reached for the desk phone.
“Matteo, have Grant's access to the records room suspended.”
Grant stood. “You're making a mistake.”
“Maybe.”
“You're letting a housekeeper's child decide who you trust.”
“No,” Nathan said. “I'm finally deciding for myself.”
Grant walked out.
For the first time in years, Nathan did not ask him to stay.
Later, Claire found Nathan alone in the garden. He was looking at the yellow ribbon Lily had tied around one wheel of his chair.
“Did you find the truth?” she asked.
“Part of it.”
“Was Grant involved?”
Nathan looked up.
“I don't know how much.”
Claire sat on the bench opposite him.
“Lily doesn't understand why grown-ups lie.”
“Neither do I.”
“She thinks if someone smiles, they're being kind.”
Nathan looked at the mansion behind them.
“Then we have to teach her that kindness is what people do, not what they look like.”
A small voice came from the terrace.
“I'm teaching him,” Lily announced.
She held a plate with two cookies.
Nathan accepted one.
Claire watched him take a bite, and for a moment the garden felt almost ordinary.
Then a gunshot cracked from beyond the wall.
The guards shouted.
Nathan's chair jerked as Matteo pushed him behind the stone planter.
Claire grabbed Lily and dropped to the ground.
May you like
A second shot struck the garden door.
Someone had found them.
