Cracks in the Perfect Family
Chapter 03 - Cracks in the Perfect Family
To the public, the Cole family looked untouched by scandal. Their name covered towers and charity banners across the city. Richard gave speeches about responsibility, while Lily, now eighteen, smiled for photographs and studied architecture.
Behind closed doors, the empire was cracking.
Richard’s longtime business partner, Grant Hale, controlled the company’s accounts and dismissed safety complaints as expensive inconveniences. When Lily asked why old inspection files were disappearing, he told her she was too young to understand business.
She understood more than he realized.
Lily had never forgotten the night Ethan left. She remembered the acceptance letter in his hand and the fear in their mother’s face. Most of all, she remembered Richard ordering the family staff to remove Ethan’s photographs by morning. Lily had hidden one picture in her desk and kept it through six years of silence.
While researching a class project, she discovered public records showing repeated electrical violations in Cole properties. The dates matched the reports Ethan had questioned. Then she found something worse: several repair invoices had been paid to companies that did not exist.
She brought the files to Richard.
Her father looked older than she had ever seen him. For one brief moment, guilt crossed his face. Then Grant entered the office without knocking.
“Those records are incomplete,” he said smoothly. “A student could easily misunderstand them.”
“I’m not misunderstanding fake companies,” Lily replied.
Richard’s jaw tightened. “Enough. We will handle this internally.”
“That’s what you said when Ethan warned you.”
The room went silent.
Richard struck the desk with his palm. “Do not use his name to accuse me.”
Lily left before he could see her cry. That night, she called Station 17 but lost her nerve when the dispatcher answered. Minutes later, Grant appeared at her bedroom door. He claimed he was checking on her, yet his eyes moved to the phone in her hand.
The next morning, Richard announced a charity gala at the family mansion. Major investors, city officials, and reporters would attend. Grant insisted it would prove the company remained strong.
Lily noticed that the gala date was the same night Richard planned to sign control of several properties over to Grant.
She tried calling Ethan again. This time, she left a voicemail.
“Ethan, I know you may hate us. But something is wrong. Dad is scared, and Grant is hiding something. Please call me.”
The message never reached Ethan.
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Grant had already paid someone inside the phone company to reroute every call connected to the Cole household.
And in a warehouse outside the city, he was testing an electrical timer beside three cans of accelerant.
