Chapter 12 - Connor Ward’s Last Offer
Connor was taken into custody before midnight.
The investigators found enough evidence on the restaurant recordings to arrest him for attempted coercion, obstruction, and conspiracy related to falsified financial authorizations.
Brenda faced those charges plus assault.
As officers escorted her from the room, she stopped beside Olivia.
Ranch dressing still clung to the ends of Olivia’s red hair.
Brenda looked almost pleased.
“You think this is justice,” she said.
“It’s a beginning.”
“No. It is a door.”
“Then I’ll walk through it.”
Brenda leaned closer.
“Your father did too.”
The officer pulled her away.
Connor remained behind for several minutes while Naomi completed paperwork. He asked to speak to Olivia one final time.
This time, Naomi allowed it because every word was still being recorded.
Connor sat at the end of the ruined table.
The investors had been moved to another room. Broken porcelain remained near Olivia’s chair. The monitor displayed a blank screen.
Connor gestured toward the seat opposite him.
Olivia remained standing.
“You won,” he said.
“This was never a game.”
“It always was to Brenda.”
“And to you.”
He looked exhausted.
“You want me to admit I hated you.”
“Did you?”
“Sometimes.”
“Why?”
“Because every room changed when you entered it.”
Olivia frowned.
“You didn’t need people to admire you. You didn’t need them to be afraid of you. You looked at numbers and decided whether something was true.”
“That threatened you?”
“It made me feel temporary.”
Connor glanced at the city.
“I could persuade anyone. Investors, reporters, politicians. Then you would ask one question, and the whole performance became fragile.”
“So you framed me.”
“At first, I only wanted you removed from the authorization chain.”
“By stealing my credentials?”
“Brenda arranged that.”
“You approved it.”
“Yes.”
The direct admission surprised her.
“Why admit it now?”
“Because Brenda will destroy both of us unless you find the trust first.”
Olivia studied him.
“You said you didn’t know where it was.”
“I don’t know the exact location.”
“But?”
“My father kept a list of trust properties. One of them was purchased under your mother’s maiden name.”
“What property?”
“A house near Saint Orison.”
Olivia knew the town.
Her mother had grown up there.
“What address?”
“I want something in return.”
“No.”
“Then you may never find it.”
Naomi stood several feet away, listening.
Olivia leaned forward and placed both hands on the table.
“You laughed while Brenda shoved my face into a bowl.”
Connor looked down.
“You stole from families who trusted us.”
He said nothing.
“You used my dead father to discredit me. You forged evidence. You destroyed my career. And now you think you still have something to trade.”
“I do.”
“No. You have information that will become evidence the moment investigators search your accounts, offices, devices, and properties.”
“The address isn’t written anywhere they’ll find.”
“Then keep it.”
He looked up.
“You would risk never knowing the truth about your mother?”
Olivia’s eyes burned.
“Yes.”
Connor appeared confused.
She straightened.
“For years, you controlled me by making me afraid of losing things. My career. My reputation. My father’s memory. Now you’re trying to use my mother.”
“It isn’t a trick.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
She turned away.
Connor called after her.
“17 Mariner’s Hill.”
Olivia stopped.
Naomi stepped forward.
Connor continued.
“Saint Orison. The house was purchased through the Elaine Cross Trust in 2004.”
Olivia slowly faced him.
“Why tell me?”
“Because when you open that house, Brenda becomes more afraid of you than she is of prison.”
“What is inside?”
Connor’s smile returned faintly.
“I never made it past the front room.”
“What stopped you?”
“A photograph.”
“Of what?”
“Not what.”
May you like
He looked at Olivia.
“Who.”
