Chapter 4 - The Trust
The storm arrived after midnight.
Rain battered the windows of the Halcyon Crown while Ethan sat alone in the villa he had rented for Vanessa.
Her suitcase was gone.
So was she.
Security footage showed her leaving through a service entrance at 7:12 p.m.
Ethan called fourteen times.
No answer.
For the first time, he did not call a fifteenth.
Instead, he opened his laptop.
He searched.
Invoices.
Transfers.
Emails.
Travel reimbursements.
The more he looked, the more ashamed he became.
Not because the evidence was cleverly hidden.
Because much of it wasn’t.
Grace had been right.
He had stopped paying attention.
At 1:36 a.m., someone knocked.
Ethan opened the door.
Declan stood outside.
“Grace?”
“Sleeping.”
“Is she okay?”
“She’s seven months pregnant and discovered her husband kissing another woman six hours ago. Define okay.”
Ethan lowered his eyes.
Declan handed him a flash drive.
“What’s this?”
“Something you should have noticed.”
Ethan plugged it in.
A corporate authorization appeared.
His electronic signature.
Approval for the transfer of $6 million into a family investment vehicle.
Ethan stared.
“I didn’t sign this.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because you were in Toronto when the authorization was executed from your Manhattan office.”
Ethan looked up.
“Vanessa?”
“Maybe.”
“Why are you helping me?”
Declan was silent for a moment.
“Because Grace asked me to.”
That hurt.
“She still asked you to help me?”
“No. She asked me to help save the company.”
Declan turned toward the ocean.
“Whether that saves you is your decision.”
Ethan studied him.
“What is she to you?”
Declan looked back.
“My best friend’s little sister.”
Ethan blinked.
“Grace has a brother?”
“Had.”
The word landed softly.
Declan continued.
“Michael Bennett and I started our first company together at twenty-two. He died in a climbing accident at twenty-eight.”
Ethan knew Grace’s older brother had died.
He had never known Declan was connected to him.
“Michael asked me to look out for her.”
“And you’ve been doing that for eleven years?”
“No.”
Declan’s expression changed.
“Grace didn’t need looking after. She needed someone to answer the phone when she finally decided to stop protecting everyone else.”
Ethan swallowed.
“Does she love you?”
Declan stared at him for several seconds.
“That is the wrong question.”
“What’s the right one?”
“Why did you stop making sure she could love you?”
Declan left.
Ethan didn’t sleep.
At dawn, Grace entered the breakfast terrace alone.
Ethan waited until she saw him.
“I know about the forged signature.”
She stopped.
“Declan told you?”
“Yes.”
Grace sat slowly.
Ethan remained standing.
“I didn’t authorize it.”
“I know.”
“I’ll testify to that.”
“I know.”
He exhaled.
“I’m sorry.”
Grace looked toward the ocean.
“For which part?”
“All of it.”
“That isn’t an apology.”
He sat opposite her.
“You’re right.”
She looked surprised.
Ethan continued.
“I lied about New York. I used company money. I ignored the warnings you gave me. I cheated on you while you were carrying our daughter. And I made you feel like asking me to come home was unreasonable.”
Grace’s eyes shone.
He forced himself to continue.
“I don’t expect forgiveness.”
“Good.”
The word hurt.
But Ethan nodded.
“I’m flying back for the board meeting.”
“So am I.”
“I’m voting with Pierce.”
Grace finally looked at him.
Ethan continued.
“To suspend me.”
Now she looked genuinely stunned.
“You’ll lose control.”
“I already lost control.”
He swallowed.
“I just didn’t notice.”
Grace said nothing.
Then her phone rang.
She answered.
Her expression changed immediately.
“What?”
Ethan stood.
Grace pressed a hand against her stomach.
“Say that again.”
She listened.
Then looked at Ethan.
“Vanessa didn’t steal eighteen million.”
Ethan frowned.
Grace’s voice dropped.
“She moved sixty-three million.”
“Where?”
Grace listened again.
Her face went white.
“Grace?”
May you like
She lowered the phone.
“Into a company controlled by your father.”
