Chapter 5 - The Golden Son Cracks
Grant came to me voluntarily.
That was how I knew he was afraid.
Three days after we discovered Daniel’s storage files, Rebecca called from downstairs.
“Your brother is here.”
I looked through the security monitor.
Grant stood outside her law office alone.
No driver.
No attorney.
No perfect uniform.
Jeans and a gray sweater.
He looked like the brother I remembered from childhood.
Which made him more dangerous.
“Send him up.”
Rebecca frowned.
“You sure?”
“No.”
“Good answer.”
Grant entered the conference room and saw Luke.
His entire body stiffened.
“You.”
Luke didn't stand.
“Commander.”
“Don't call me that.”
“Why? Promotion disappear?”
“Luke.”
I stepped between them.
“If either of you starts measuring childhood trauma, I'm leaving.”
Grant stared at my bruised face.
“I didn't know Dad hit you that hard.”
I laughed.
“Everyone suddenly cares about the measurement.”
“I mean it.”
“You clapped.”
His eyes lowered.
That gave me more satisfaction than it should have.
“I shouldn't have.”
“No.”
“I was angry.”
“So was he.”
“I know.”
“You don't get absolution because your voice is quieter.”
Grant nodded.
“I know.”
Again.
Different.
He placed a flash drive on the table.
“I came to give you this.”
Rebecca did not touch it.
“What is it?”
“The rest.”
Luke stood.
“The rest of what?”
“Daniel's operation.”
Silence filled the room.
Grant sat.
For years, I had seen him in photographs surrounded by medals, politicians, officers, flags.
Now he looked exhausted.
“Dad had been using Mercer Strategic to reroute equipment since before I joined the military.”
“We know,” I said.
“He told me it was legal.”
Luke scoffed.
Grant looked at him.
“I was twenty-three.”
“You remained twenty-three for fifteen years?”
“No.”
Grant accepted the hit.
“By the time I understood what was happening, I was already involved.”
“How?”
“Information.”
He rubbed his hands together.
“Deployment schedules. Procurement gaps. Inspection timelines. Nothing that looked catastrophic alone.”
Rebecca asked, “You provided Richard confidential military information?”
“Yes.”
“That's a felony.”
“Yes.”
He said it without defense.
Rebecca leaned back.
“Continue.”
“Daniel discovered a communications shipment in Afghanistan. I knew immediately where it came from.”
“The warehouse,” I said.
“Yes.”
“Why was Richard there?”
“Damage control.”
Luke laughed bitterly.
“Your father flew into a war zone for damage control?”
“Our father,” Grant snapped.
Luke moved so fast Rebecca stood.
I blocked him.
“Stop.”
Luke glared at Grant.
“He wasn't her father.”
Grant's face changed.
“Legally he was.”
“That doesn't mean anything.”
“To you.”
“To Evelyn too.”
I shouted, “Stop deciding what he was to me!”
Both men went silent.
My hands trembled.
“Richard raised me. He abused me. He paid for my school. He forgot my birthdays. He taught me to drive. He made me afraid of him. James was my biological father. Richard was the man in my house.”
I looked between them.
“Both things can be true.”
Nobody argued.
Grant resumed.
“Daniel confronted us. Dad wanted the camera destroyed. Daniel had already uploaded copies.”
“To whom?”
“A federal investigator named Marcus Vale.”
The man in the photo.
“Marcus disappeared,” Rebecca said.
“No.”
Grant looked at me.
“He went undercover.”
Luke stared.
“What?”
“His disappearance was staged.”
“Then where is he?”
“I don't know.”
“You expect us to believe that?”
“I know he was alive two days later because I met him.”
“The photograph.”
Grant nodded.
“Daniel had already contacted him. After Daniel was wounded, Marcus approached me.”
My pulse quickened.
“What did he want?”
“Me.”
“For what?”
“As an informant.”
Nobody spoke.
Grant looked at Luke.
“I have been cooperating with a federal corruption investigation for seven years.”
Luke laughed.
“That's your story?”
“Yes.”
“Convenient.”
“I know.”
“Daniel dies and suddenly you're the secret hero?”
“No.”
Grant's voice hardened.
“I am not the hero.”
That quieted everyone.
“I left Daniel.”
The words seemed to cost him.
“He was alive. The medic told me we might be able to stabilize him, but enemy fire was moving toward us.”
Grant stared at the tabletop.
“I ordered eleven people out.”
His eyes filled.
“I heard Daniel shouting while we pulled away.”
I had imagined hating Grant when he admitted it.
Instead, I felt hollow.
“Did he die because of you?”
“I don't know.”
“Did you go back?”
“Yes.”
Luke froze.
“What?”
“Thirty-eight minutes later.”
“Why isn't that on the footage?”
“The camera lost power.”
Grant swallowed.
“When we returned, Daniel was gone.”
I stared at him.
“Gone?”
“No body.”
“But the Army said he died.”
“Because Dad made sure everyone believed he did.”
The entire room seemed to stop breathing.
Luke stepped closer.
“Explain.”
Grant looked at him.
“I never saw Daniel dead.”
My heartbeat became painful.
“Then whose body was buried?”
“Closed casket.”
Luke grabbed Grant by the shirt.
“You knew?”
Rebecca shouted.
I pushed between them.
Grant didn't fight back.
“I thought he was dead!”
Luke shoved him away.
“You just said there was no body!”
“There was blood everywhere. His radio was destroyed. We searched. Nothing.”
“So you invented a death?”
“Richard did.”
“Why?”
Grant looked directly at me.
“Because he was afraid Daniel had survived.”
The implication struck all of us at once.
I whispered, “You think Daniel could be alive?”
Grant shook his head.
“No. Not now.”
“Why not?”
“Because seven years without contact?”
“Maybe he couldn't.”
Luke's hands were shaking.
“My brother would have contacted me.”
“I agree.”
“But you don't know.”
“No.”
Rebecca pointed at the flash drive.
“What is on that?”
Grant answered:
“Records of every conversation I've had with Richard about the diversion network since I became an informant.”
Luke stared at him.
“You recorded him?”
“For seven years.”
“Why hasn't he been arrested?”
“Because Richard isn't the top.”
That revelation landed harder than I expected.
“He answers to someone?”
Grant nodded.
“Mercer Strategic is one branch. There are defense contractors, customs officials, retired officers, lobbyists.”
Rebecca whispered, “A network.”
“Yes.”
“And Marcus?”
“Running the case.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
Grant looked at me.
“After Dad hit you, everything changed. He thinks you have Daniel's evidence. He's panicking.”
“Good.”
“No.”
Grant leaned toward me.
“You don't understand. Panic makes him reckless.”
“Someone shot at Luke's office.”
Grant's face drained of color.
“When?”
“Two days ago.”
He stood abruptly.
“You need to leave Atlanta.”
“I’m not running.”
“This isn't about courage.”
“Neither was seven years of silence.”
He flinched.
I continued.
“If Richard wants me afraid, he's going to be disappointed.”
Grant shook his head.
“You sound like Daniel.”
“Good.”
“No, Evelyn. That's what scares me.”
His phone buzzed.
Grant looked at the screen.
Every trace of color disappeared from his face.
“What?”
He turned the phone toward us.
A text from an unknown number.
YOU WERE TOLD TO KEEP HER OUT OF IT.
Attached was a photograph.
Taken moments earlier.
Through the law office window.
It showed Grant, Luke, Rebecca, and me standing together.
Beneath the image were five words.
May you like
NOW WE CLEAN UP EVERYTHING.
Then the building fire alarm began to scream.
