Chapter 6 - The Secret Inside Nathan’s Company
Nathan did not tell Victoria about the threat.
He did something Victoria had never seen him do before.
He shut her out.
For the next two days, he worked from home.
Two private security officers remained on the property.
Lily did not attend preschool.
Grace stayed close to her.
Nathan arranged a second DNA collection at the mansion using a different laboratory.
The technician arrived without company markings and left through the service gate.
Only four people knew.
Nathan.
Grace.
His attorney Michael Reeves.
And the laboratory director.
Victoria knew something was happening.
She could feel control slipping.
At dinner, she tried to restore normalcy.
“Nathan, we need to discuss the engagement dinner.”
He continued cutting his steak.
“No.”
“No?”
“We’re postponing it.”
Victoria lowered her fork.
“Why?”
Nathan looked at her.
“You know why.”
Grace was serving wine at the far end of the dining room.
Victoria glanced toward her.
“This is humiliating.”
“What is?”
“You allowing staff to observe our private disagreements.”
Nathan put down his knife.
“Grace is not the problem.”
“She absolutely is.”
“No. The problem is that my fiancée intercepted personal correspondence, lied about it, and possibly forged my signature.”
Victoria stood.
“I did not forge anything.”
Nathan looked at her calmly.
“Then you have nothing to worry about.”
Victoria left the dining room.
Her wineglass remained untouched.
Later, Nathan went to his office.
Michael Reeves joined him by video call.
Michael had been Nathan’s attorney since the early days of Cole Meridian.
He was sixty-one, blunt and meticulous.
“I pulled the old records.”
Nathan leaned toward the screen.
“And?”
“You’re not going to like it.”
“Tell me.”
“Victoria had broader authorization than you remembered.”
Nathan frowned.
“How broad?”
“During Singapore, you signed a temporary executive administration order. She could access private correspondence, approve routine settlements below one hundred thousand dollars, and use your signature stamp on pre-approved categories.”
Nathan became still.
“Settlements.”
“Yes.”
Grace, sitting quietly near the window, understood immediately.
“The seventy-five thousand dollars.”
Michael nodded.
“Exactly.”
Nathan looked sick.
“So she could have created the offer.”
“She could have processed it.”
“Could she legally sign my name?”
“Not on a personal paternity matter.”
Nathan stood.
“She knew that.”
“Of course she knew.”
Grace asked, “Can you prove she did it?”
Michael hesitated.
“Maybe.”
Nathan stopped pacing.
“What does that mean?”
“Old servers.”
“What about them?”
“In 2022, Cole Meridian migrated its email system. Before the migration, several executive mailboxes were backed up to an offline compliance archive.”
Nathan leaned forward.
“Victoria’s?”
“Yes.”
“Get it.”
“There’s a problem.”
“What?”
“The archive was removed from storage last year.”
“By whom?”
Michael looked directly into the camera.
“Victoria.”
Silence.
Nathan stared.
“Why?”
“She filed a retention disposal request.”
“Was it destroyed?”
“That’s what I’m trying to determine.”
Grace felt cold.
Nathan looked toward her.
“Sarah died last year.”
“Eighteen months ago,” Grace said.
Michael’s expression changed.
“When exactly?”
Grace gave him the date.
Michael typed.
Then stopped.
“The disposal request was filed nine days later.”
Nathan slowly sat down.
Victoria had moved to destroy records nine days after Sarah’s death.
That was not coincidence.
It was fear.
Michael continued.
“I also found something else.”
“What?”
“A seventy-five-thousand-dollar transfer from a dormant executive contingency account.”
Nathan’s face hardened.
“To Sarah?”
“No.”
Grace leaned forward.
“Then where?”
Michael looked uncomfortable.
“To an account belonging to a company called Harlow Consulting.”
Nathan frowned.
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“I checked the incorporation records.”
Michael paused.
“Harlow Consulting belonged to Victoria’s brother.”
Nathan stared at the screen.
The forged settlement had not merely been a lie.
The money Nathan supposedly offered Sarah had been stolen.
Victoria had created a false paternity settlement, used Nathan’s authority to approve it, and redirected the money to her own family.
Grace thought of Sarah raising Lily in a small apartment.
Working weekends.
Selling her car after Lily got pneumonia.
Sarah had believed Nathan tried to pay her off.
Meanwhile Victoria had taken the money herself.
Grace stood abruptly.
“I need air.”
Nathan followed her into the hallway.
“Grace.”
She turned.
“My sister thought he hated her.”
Nathan stopped.
Grace was crying.
“She died believing the man she loved thought she was a problem worth seventy-five thousand dollars.”
Nathan’s face twisted.
“I’m sorry.”
“You should be.”
He accepted it.
“Yes.”
Grace wiped her face.
“But maybe you didn’t do it.”
“I still gave Victoria the power.”
“You trusted someone.”
“I trusted the wrong person.”
Grace looked at him.
“That isn’t the same as knowing.”
Nathan lowered his eyes.
Before either could speak again, Mrs. Dawson came running from upstairs.
“Mr. Cole.”
Nathan turned.
“What?”
“It’s Lily.”
Grace’s heart stopped.
“What happened?”
“She’s gone.”
Grace ran.
Lily’s room was empty.
The window was closed.
Her coat was still hanging beside the bed.
The security guard outside the house had seen no one leave.
On Lily’s pillow sat a folded piece of paper.
Nathan opened it.
May you like
Only one sentence was written inside.
Drop the investigation or you will never see her again.
