Chapter 5 - The Child Born Into a War
Rebecca's son entered the world at 6:42 in the morning.
Seven weeks early.
Grant stood behind glass watching doctors surround the tiny infant.
Claire stood twenty feet away.
She had imagined many versions of the moment when she would see the child created by her husband's betrayal.
She expected rage.
Grief.
Jealousy.
Instead she felt fear.
The baby was too small.
Rebecca had lost consciousness during delivery.
Doctors stabilized her, but complications required observation in intensive care.
Grant looked destroyed.
Claire had rarely seen him powerless.
Money had always solved things for Grant.
Influence solved the rest.
Now neither could make his son breathe more easily.
A doctor approached.
"Mr. Whitmore?"
Grant turned.
"Your son is stable."
Grant exhaled.
"We need to monitor him carefully, but he's responding well."
"Can I see him?"
"Soon."
The doctor left.
Grant sat.
Claire remained standing.
After several minutes, he said, "You can leave."
Claire looked at him.
"I know."
"You shouldn't have to be here."
"No."
Grant rubbed his hands together.
"I never wanted this."
"Which part?"
He looked up.
"Any of it."
Claire's expression hardened.
"You made choices."
"I know."
"You don't get to describe them as something that happened to you."
Grant nodded.
"You're right."
Claire had wanted to hear those words for years.
They brought no satisfaction.
Daniel arrived.
A bruise darkened his cheek.
Claire noticed immediately.
"What happened?"
"Someone tried to take Rebecca."
Grant stood.
"What?"
Daniel lowered his voice.
"I moved her from my office before dawn. A vehicle followed us. At the hospital garage, two men approached."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
Grant looked toward Claire.
She saw the fear return.
Daniel continued.
"Hospital security intervened. They left."
"Police?"
"Taking statements."
Grant shook his head.
"No police."
Daniel stared at him.
"Excuse me?"
"No police involvement."
Claire stepped forward.
"Why?"
Grant said nothing.
Daniel's patience disappeared.
"Your mistress and newborn child may have been targeted. Your wife received threats. Forty-eight million dollars disappeared from your company. This is past the point where you control exposure."
Grant looked at Claire.
"Give me until tonight."
"For what?"
"I'll tell you everything."
Claire folded her arms.
"Now."
"Not here."
"Now."
Grant looked around the corridor.
Then he sat.
"Vale Biomedical wasn't a normal acquisition."
Claire remained silent.
"My mother arranged it."
"Why?"
"Because she owned part of Vale through intermediaries."
"We know."
Grant looked surprised.
Daniel said, "Keep talking."
Grant swallowed.
"Vale was failing. My mother would have lost most of her investment. She pressured my father to have Northstar acquire it."
"Your father was dead by then," Claire said.
"She started before he died."
Claire felt cold.
"How long?"
"Years."
Grant continued.
"After Dad died, she came to me. Northstar was struggling. She said Vale had technology that could transform our healthcare division."
"You believed her?"
"At first."
"And later?"
Grant looked ashamed.
"I learned she had money in it."
"Before or after the acquisition?"
"Before."
Claire's voice became quiet.
"And you bought it anyway."
"Yes."
"You authorized Northstar to overpay by more than a hundred million dollars so your mother could make thirty-two million."
Grant stared at the floor.
"Yes."
Daniel said, "That's securities fraud."
"I know."
Claire almost whispered.
"Samuel Knox knew."
Grant looked up.
"How do you know that name?"
"We found his email."
Grant went still.
Daniel leaned forward.
"What happened to him?"
"I don't know."
"Wrong answer."
"I'm telling you the truth."
"Samuel died six months after the acquisition."
Grant stood.
"You think I killed him?"
"No one said that."
"You're thinking it."
Claire watched him closely.
"Did Victoria have anything to do with his death?"
Grant's face changed.
"I don't know."
"Grant."
"I don't know."
"But you're afraid she did."
Silence.
That was answer enough.
Grant looked toward the neonatal unit.
"Two years ago, Nathan found old Vale files in an archive scheduled for destruction."
"Files proving the fraud?"
"Yes."
"He blackmailed you."
"At first he demanded five million."
"And you paid."
"Yes."
"Company money."
"I couldn't move that much personally without questions."
Claire laughed bitterly.
"So instead you stole it from thousands of shareholders."
Grant closed his eyes.
"Then Nathan demanded more."
"Seventeen million?"
"Eventually."
"Why are the other thirty-one million tied to Rebecca's properties?"
Grant hesitated.
"My mother told me to move money through the same entities. She said mixing personal transactions with Nathan's payments would make the trail harder to understand."
Daniel shook his head.
"She helped you launder the transfers."
Grant did not respond.
Claire asked, "Why is Nathan suddenly escalating?"
"Because he says he has proof Samuel's death wasn't an accident."
The corridor became silent.
Claire felt a chill.
Daniel spoke first.
"What proof?"
"A recording."
"Of whom?"
"My mother."
Grant looked at Claire.
"He says she spoke to someone two days before Samuel died."
Claire stared.
"What did she say?"
"I've never heard it."
"Then how do you know it exists?"
"Nathan played ten seconds for me."
Grant's face tightened.
Claire waited.
Finally he continued.
"My mother says, 'Samuel has become a problem. Make sure he never reaches the board.'"
Daniel looked grim.
"That doesn't prove murder."
"No."
"But it explains why you're terrified."
Grant nodded.
Claire thought about Victoria's perfect posture, quiet voice, soft sweaters.
"Where is the recording?"
"Nathan has it."
"Then why not give him whatever he wants?"
Grant laughed without humor.
"Because Nathan doesn't want money anymore."
Claire's eyes narrowed.
"What does he want?"
Grant looked toward the elevators.
"He wants control of Northstar."
Daniel said, "That's impossible."
"Not if he destroys me first."
Claire understood.
A scandal involving fraud, blackmail, misused corporate funds, and possible murder would collapse Grant's leadership instantly.
Nathan could position himself as the executive who exposed corruption.
Grant continued.
"He wants me to resign and recommend him as interim CEO."
Claire stared.
"And you were going to do it?"
"I didn't know what else to do."
"Tell the truth."
"If I tell the truth, Northstar could collapse."
"No."
Claire stepped closer.
"If you continue lying, Northstar collapses."
Grant looked at her.
For the first time, he seemed to understand the difference.
Daniel's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
"What?"
He listened.
Then looked at Grant.
"When?"
Another pause.
Daniel ended the call.
Claire said, "What happened?"
"Peter Shaw is missing."
Grant's eyes widened.
"The controller?"
Daniel nodded.
"His wife says he never came home."
Claire immediately called Peter.
Straight to voicemail.
Again.
Voicemail.
Grant stood.
"Nathan knows Peter helped you."
Claire felt the hospital corridor suddenly become much colder.
Daniel asked, "Where would Peter keep copies?"
Claire looked at Grant.
"I don't know."
Then her phone buzzed.
A message from Peter's number.
No text.
Only a photograph.
Peter sat in a dark room.
His hands were bound.
Behind him stood a man whose face was outside the frame.
Claire stopped breathing.
A second message arrived.
Bring the Vale documents to Pier 19 at midnight.
Come alone.
Grant read over her shoulder.
"No."
Claire looked at him.
"They have Peter."
"You're not going."
A third message appeared.
May you like
And Claire, don't involve your husband.
He is the reason all of this began.
