Chapter 4: The Price of Silence
The officers escorted Grace into a private corridor while guests crowded around the ballroom doors.
Ethan followed until Bernard blocked him.
“Move,” Ethan said.
“You are under board suspension.”
“That does not prevent me from calling an attorney.”
Marcus held out his hand.
“Your company phone.”
Ethan placed it in Marcus’s palm.
“Enjoy holding it.
You won’t hold my company for long.”
Victoria entered the corridor carrying Grace’s sealed envelope.
“Everyone else out,” she said.
“I want one minute with her.”
The officer shook his head.
“She is being detained for questioning.”
“She may decide to cooperate.”
Grace looked at Ethan.
“Don’t leave.”
“I’ll be outside that door.”
Victoria waited until the others stepped away.
Then she moved close enough for Grace to smell champagne on her breath.
“Your mother has a small pension,” Victoria said.
“Her house still carries a mortgage.”
“Stay away from her.”
“Sign a statement saying you planted the photograph.
I’ll protect both.”
“You mean you’ll pay us to carry your shame.”
“I’m offering your mother security.”
“You dismissed her, called her a thief, and left her afraid to answer the front door.”
Victoria’s fingers tightened around the envelope.
“Then don’t make her life worse.”
Grace glanced through the glass panel.
Ethan stood on the other side, arguing with Bernard.
“What happens if I refuse?”
“The lender calls in her mortgage.
The confession reaches every newspaper.
And you spend years explaining why you entered my home using a false identity.”
“You are frightened.”
Victoria laughed.
“You’re the one surrounded by officers.”
Grace leaned closer.
“Then why is your hand shaking?”
Victoria looked down.
The envelope trembled between her fingers.
Grace reached for it, but Victoria pulled it back.
“That photograph is all you have.”
“No.
It’s all you know I have.”
Victoria’s face stiffened.
The door opened, and Ethan entered with a woman in a navy suit.
“This is Amelia Grant,” he said.
“Grace’s attorney.”
Victoria turned.
“You cannot appoint counsel for the woman who broke into my home.”
Amelia set her briefcase on the table.
“I decide whom I represent.
You may leave.”
Victoria walked past Grace, then stopped.
“When your mother loses everything, remember that I offered you a choice.”
Grace’s eyes burned.
“When you lose everything, remember you had one too.”
Victoria left.
Amelia faced the officers.
“Do you have a warrant?”
“We have a complaint and disputed property.”
“The photograph was taken by Grace’s mother.
It belongs to the Miller family.”
Charles appeared at the doorway.
“Not if it was stolen from my safe.”
Amelia held out her hand.
“Then show us proof of ownership.”
Charles said nothing.
Grace’s phone vibrated inside her apron.
The officer allowed Amelia to retrieve it.
A message from an unknown number filled the screen.
I filmed Victoria putting the envelope in the safe.
I can prove Grace didn’t plant it.
But Marcus knows I saw him copying Ethan’s signature.
Grace showed Ethan.
“Who sent this?” he asked.
A second message appeared.
It’s Lydia.
Victoria’s assistant.
Don’t call me.
They’re watching my apartment.
Then a photograph arrived.
Lydia stood beside a computer monitor displaying a transfer authorization.
Across the bottom was Ethan’s electronic signature.
Above it, in small letters, appeared the user who had created the file:
MARCUS.VALE—11:43 P.M.
Ethan enlarged the image.
“This can clear Grace.”
Amelia’s phone rang before he could send it.
She listened, then slowly lowered it.
“What happened?” Grace asked.
“The original server record was deleted four minutes ago.”
Marcus appeared behind Charles.
He looked at the photograph on Grace’s phone and smiled.
May you like
“Digital images are easy to manufacture,” he said.
“Especially when the only witness has just disappeared.”
