Chapter 10 - The Man Outside the Service Door
Marissa stopped several feet from Victor.
He wore a gray overcoat and carried no umbrella despite the rain beyond the open door.
His calm expression made him more frightening than Grant.
“You should not be here,” Marissa said.
“Neither should you.”
Behind her, the estate alarm continued sounding.
Victor stepped inside and closed the door.
“Give me the documents.”
“I do not have them.”
“You were never convincing when you lied.”
He held out his hand.
Marissa backed away.
“You paid us to frame Elena.”
“I paid you to manage a difficult situation.”
“You wanted the shares.”
“I want to preserve the company Richard nearly destroyed through sentiment.”
“Then why are you selling the hotels?”
Victor smiled faintly.
“You have been reading.”
Footsteps echoed from the upper corridor.
Grant’s security team was getting closer.
Victor lowered his hand.
“Once they find those papers, Grant will accuse you of theft. Sloane will support him. Elena will use you until she no longer needs your testimony.”
“You do not know Elena.”
“Neither do you.”
He moved closer.
“Give me the file. I will transfer enough money for you to disappear before morning.”
“How much?”
Victor’s eyes sharpened.
“Two million dollars.”
Marissa pretended to consider it.
“Three.”
“You are in no position to negotiate.”
“Then call Grant.”
Victor glanced toward the corridor.
Marissa understood.
He did not want Grant to know the documents existed.
The Northstar note proved Victor planned to remove him. The letters proved Richard discovered the financial scheme before his death.
“You are afraid of what Grant will read,” she said.
Victor’s expression hardened.
“I am offering you a final opportunity.”
Marissa reached inside her coat.
Victor extended his hand.
Instead of giving him the papers, she pressed the alarm control Ava had provided.
A piercing emergency signal sounded from the device.
At the same moment, headlights flooded the windows at the end of the corridor.
Ava’s rental vehicle stopped outside the rear gate.
Julian had contacted local authorities after receiving Marissa’s emergency message. Two officers approached the estate entrance with him.
Victor seized Marissa’s arm.
She pulled away, losing several pages from beneath her coat.
One slid across the floor.
Victor stepped on it.
The page contained Richard’s warning about medical claims.
Grant entered the corridor with Sloane and two security guards.
He stopped when he saw Victor.
“What are you doing here?”
Victor removed his foot from the document.
“Cleaning up your mistake.”
Grant looked at the scattered papers.
Then he saw the handwritten Phase Two note.
He picked it up.
“Remove G after transaction,” he read.
Victor said nothing.
Grant looked at him.
“What does this mean?”
“Not now.”
“You were going to remove me?”
“Grant, take the documents.”
“You promised me control after the merger.”
Victor’s patience disappeared.
“I promised you compensation. You assumed the rest.”
Grant stared at him.
For years, he had treated Elena, his sisters and the Hartwell staff as pieces he could move across a board.
Now he realized he had been a piece too.
Sloane stepped beside Marissa.
“Grant made us sign liability agreements.”
Grant turned on her.
“You both accepted the money.”
“Because you told us we were family.”
“You wanted positions you did not earn.”
Marissa laughed bitterly.
“And you wanted a company you did not build.”
The rear doors opened.
Ava entered with Julian and the officers.
Victor immediately regained his composure.
“This is a private business dispute.”
Julian looked at the documents on the floor.
“No. It is evidence connected to financial fraud and coercion.”
Grant pointed toward Marissa.
“She stole them.”
“From a safe containing records of undisclosed payments made to her?”
Julian held up his phone.
“Copies have already been sent to the board’s independent counsel.”
Victor looked at Marissa.
She had photographed the papers before leaving the study.
The originals no longer mattered.
Julian gathered Richard’s letters and placed them inside a black evidence folder.
“The anniversary dinner will proceed,” he said.
Grant stared at him.
“You think Elena will appear after this?”
“She will.”
Ava looked directly at Grant.
“And you are going to give the speech you planned.”
Grant laughed.
“Why would I do that?”
Julian lifted the Northstar agreement.
“Because if you cancel the dinner, the board learns immediately that Victor intended to remove you without paying the twenty-four million dollars.”
Victor turned toward Grant.
“Do not listen to them.”
Grant looked from the note to Victor.
The alliance between them had lasted only while each man believed he was using the other.
Ava saw the moment it broke.
Grant straightened his tuxedo jacket.
“I will attend the dinner.”
“So will we,” Sloane said.
Grant looked at her.
“You are finished.”
Sloane took Marissa’s hand.
“No. We are finally beginning.”
Julian closed the black folder.
As the officers separated the parties and recorded statements, Elena waited in a secure suite at the Hartwell Grand.
A message appeared on her phone from Grant.
The dinner continues. You will sign in front of everyone.
Elena read it twice.
May you like
Then she sent three words.
Prepare your speech.
