Chapter 7 - THE BROTHER WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
Thomas Cole had spent his life appearing harmless.
That, Adrian realized, had been his greatest weapon.
His uncle remembered birthdays.
Sent Christmas gifts.
Told embarrassing childhood stories.
He had cried at James’s funeral.
Now he stood beneath the chandelier with armed men behind him and discussed murder as casually as a business inconvenience.
“Give me the ledger,” Thomas said.
“No.”
“Then people die.”
Adrian glanced toward Marcus.
One look.
Enough.
Marcus understood.
Adrian needed time.
“You killed my mother?”
Thomas’s smile weakened.
“She became inconvenient.”
Adrian felt rage surge.
“And my father?”
“Cancer did that favor for me.”
“James?”
“James inherited your mother’s curiosity.”
Upstairs, Grace silently moved Nora toward a rear staircase.
Mrs. Holloway followed.
Thomas noticed.
“Grace.”
She froze.
“I wouldn't.”
One gunman moved.
Adrian attacked first.
Chaos erupted.
Marcus drove another man into the wall.
Grace grabbed Nora and ran.
A shot cracked.
Glass shattered.
Police stormed the entrances.
Thomas escaped through a hidden passage.
By the time Adrian reached the grounds, a black SUV was disappearing through the trees.
But everyone else was alive.
That mattered.
At dawn, Nora sat wrapped in a blanket inside Adrian’s car.
She offered him half a cracker.
“You look sad.”
Adrian accepted it.
“My uncle is a bad man.”
Nora considered this.
“Time-out?”
Grace almost laughed.
Adrian looked at the cracker.
“A very long one.”
The evidence in the ledger was devastating.
Shell corporations.
Bribes.
Illegal contracts.
Payments to Richard.
Payments connected to James’s death.
And one account still active.
Thomas could no longer hide.
Federal authorities opened an investigation.
News organizations descended on Cole Meridian.
The company’s stock fell.
Board members demanded Adrian resign temporarily.
He refused.
Then Richard Vale disappeared.
Three days later, Grace received a message.
I HAVE SOMETHING JAMES WANTED YOU TO SEE. COME ALONE.
Adrian immediately said no.
Grace immediately ignored him.
“Richard may know where Thomas is.”
“Or Thomas has Richard’s phone.”
“Then we find out.”
“You have a remarkable relationship with danger.”
“And you have a remarkable relationship with giving orders.”
Nora looked between them.
“Mommy mad?”
“Yes,” Adrian said.
“No,” Grace said simultaneously.
Nora nodded wisely.
“Mommy mad.”
Adrian almost smiled.
Grace pointed at him.
“Don't.”
For the first time since the nightmare began, something warm passed between them.
Then disappeared.
They arranged the meeting with police surveillance.
Richard appeared beneath a railway bridge outside Stamford.
He looked terrible.
“You brought him,” he said when he saw Adrian.
“Obviously.”
Richard handed Grace an envelope.
“James gave me this the night he died.”
Grace stared.
“You had it for four years?”
“I was afraid.”
Inside was a letter.
James had written it to Nora.
To my little Peanut,
If you're reading this, I didn't get the chance to meet you. That will be the greatest regret of my life.
Grace began crying.
Adrian looked away.
James wrote about Grace.
About how frightened and thrilled he had been to become a father.
About Adrian.
Your uncle will look scary. He isn't. Make him laugh. He needs it more than anyone.
Adrian’s composure broke.
Grace reached for his hand.
He let her.
Then Richard said something strange.
“James knew Nora would copy the hand gesture.”
Adrian looked up.
“What?”
“Your father called it the Cole tell. Every Cole did it when nervous.”
The tiny habit.
The one everyone had thought Nora copied from Adrian.
She hadn't.
It was inherited.
And James knew it might someday prove who she was.
Richard continued.
“There’s something else. Thomas knew Grace was pregnant.”
Grace stiffened.
“How?”
“He had her medical records stolen.”
Adrian’s voice became dangerous.
“Why did he care?”
“Because of the trust.”
“What trust?”
Richard stared at him.
“Your grandfather’s controlling shares.”
Adrian knew the family trust divided voting control between Charles Cole’s descendants.
James’s death had transferred his shares to Adrian.
Or so Adrian believed.
Richard shook his head.
“If James had a biological child, his shares didn't transfer to you.”
Grace understood first.
“They belong to Nora.”
“Yes.”
Adrian went cold.
Thomas wasn't hunting Nora merely because she was connected to evidence.
She owned nearly half the voting control of Cole Meridian.
Richard looked at Grace.
“And Thomas cannot take the company while she is alive.”
A red dot appeared on Richard’s chest.
Adrian saw it.
“DOWN!”
The shot rang out.
Richard collapsed.
May you like
And across the road, a car accelerated away.
Thomas had found them again.
