Chapter 9 - What William Knew
Nathan pulled Grace behind him.
Marcus called emergency services.
The footsteps stopped.
Then glass shattered upstairs.
Nathan ran toward the staircase.
By the time he reached the second floor, a bedroom window stood open.
Curtains blew in the night air.
Whoever had been inside was gone.
They found William in the bathroom.
Alive.
Barely.
He was unconscious beside the sink.
Paramedics later determined he had been sedated.
At the hospital, William regained consciousness near midnight.
Nathan sat beside him.
“What happened to my father?”
William stared at his nephew for a long time.
“Thomas found out.”
“Found out what?”
“That Richard Vale never actually saved Cole Industries.”
Nathan frowned.
William explained.
Six years earlier, Richard had presented himself as the company’s rescuer.
But the financial crisis had been manufactured.
Vale-controlled shell companies had quietly shorted Cole debt.
A bribed auditor then triggered a panic among lenders.
Richard created the crisis.
Then offered the solution.
Nathan’s father did not discover the scheme until years later.
“He wanted out.”
William coughed.
“He wanted Grace brought home.”
Nathan looked toward the doorway where Grace stood.
William continued.
“Thomas was going to acknowledge Lily and confess everything.”
“What stopped him?”
William’s eyes filled with guilt.
“He died three days before the board meeting.”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
“The heart attack.”
William shook his head.
“Your father never had heart disease.”
Nathan felt cold.
“Did you tell the police?”
“I tried.”
William looked away.
“The medical examiner suddenly revised the report.”
“Then my wife received photographs of our grandchildren leaving school.”
Nathan understood.
“You were threatened.”
William nodded.
“I became a coward.”
Grace stepped closer.
“What proof did Thomas have?”
William looked at her.
“A ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“A handwritten record of payments.”
“Judges.”
“Doctors.”
“Board members.”
“Private investigators.”
“He kept names because he wanted insurance.”
Nathan leaned forward.
“Where is it?”
William swallowed.
“Thomas hid it somewhere Richard could never search without exposing himself.”
Nathan waited.
William looked directly at Grace.
“He gave it to your daughter.”
Grace stared at him.
“What?”
“The silver music box.”
Grace stopped breathing.
She remembered.
Shortly after Lily’s first birthday, an anonymous package arrived at their apartment.
Inside was a silver music box engraved with a small letter L.
Grace had assumed it came from her late mother.
She still had it.
It was stored in a box at the small apartment she rented in Queens.
Nathan stood.
“We need to get it.”
William grabbed his wrist.
“Don’t go.”
Nathan looked down.
William’s face was terrified.
“If they know I told you, they know about the music box too.”
Nathan’s phone rang.
It was his security chief.
Nathan answered.
Daniel’s voice came through urgently.
May you like
“Mr. Cole.”
“Grace’s apartment is on fire.”
