Chapter 7 - THE FALL OF NATHAN COLE
By sunrise, Nathan’s face was everywhere.
COLE DEVELOPMENT CEO LINKED TO FRAUD INVESTIGATION.
News vans surrounded the hospital.
His board scheduled an emergency meeting.
His attorneys called every six minutes.
Nathan ignored all of them until Ellie walked into the family room holding a tablet.
“Are you going to jail?”
He gently took it away.
“Who gave you this?”
“It was on the table.”
Nathan crouched.
“No. I’m not going to jail today.”
“Today?”
He winced.
Bad wording.
“I didn’t steal the money.”
“Then why does the TV say you did?”
Nathan looked at her.
Because television needed answers faster than truth could provide them.
“Sometimes people know part of a story and think they know all of it.”
“Like when Hannah thought Sophie broke the lamp?”
“I did not,” Sophie shouted from across the room.
“You threw Mr. Buttons!”
“He was flying!”
Nathan rubbed his forehead.
Somehow this was his life now.
“Yes. Like the lamp.”
Hannah appeared.
“Who actually broke it?”
Ellie pointed at herself.
Nathan stared.
Ellie shrugged.
“See?”
Against every reasonable instinct, he laughed.
His daughters had just explained public scandal using a flying stuffed rabbit.
Rebecca entered.
“We have a problem.”
“Apparently I have several.”
“The board voted.”
Nathan’s smile disappeared.
“And?”
“Temporary suspension.”
He nodded.
Expected.
“Martin?”
“Gone.”
Nathan stood.
“What do you mean gone?”
“His house is empty. Phone disconnected. Car abandoned near Sea-Tac.”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
Martin had prepared for this.
Rebecca lowered her voice.
“Federal investigators believe your credentials were used to approve the transfers.”
“Can we prove I didn’t?”
“Eventually.”
Nathan hated that word.
Eventually could destroy a company.
A reputation.
A family.
Then Claire spoke from the doorway.
“I can.”
Everyone turned.
She was in a wheelchair, pale but awake.
Nathan crossed the room immediately.
“What are you doing out of bed?”
Claire looked amused.
“Hello to you too.”
“You nearly died yesterday.”
“I noticed.”
The girls ran to her.
Nathan stepped back as Claire gathered them carefully.
For several minutes nothing else mattered.
Then Claire looked at him.
“I have evidence Martin forged executive authorizations.”
Nathan stared.
“Where?”
“I didn’t put everything in the bank box.”
“Why not?”
“Because I wasn’t sure who would find it.”
“Where is it?”
Claire looked at Ellie.
The child immediately became interested in her shoes.
Nathan noticed.
“Ellie?”
Claire smiled faintly.
“Remember our emergency game?”
Ellie nodded.
“Where’s the treasure?”
Ellie looked at Nathan suspiciously.
“Can he know?”
Claire’s eyes met his.
“Yes.”
Ellie disappeared into the family room and returned with Mr. Buttons.
Sophie screamed.
“No!”
Ellie carefully turned the rabbit over.
A small zipper was hidden beneath its damaged ear.
Nathan stared.
Inside was a tiny memory card.
Sophie grabbed her rabbit.
“Mr. Buttons has secrets?”
“Apparently,” Nathan said, “Mr. Buttons has been doing corporate intelligence.”
Sophie looked horrified.
Claire laughed.
The sound hit Nathan harder than expected.
He had missed it.
Five years had changed everything and somehow not changed that.
Rebecca examined the card.
“Encrypted.”
Claire gave her a password.
“What’s on it?” Nathan asked.
“Emails between Martin and the contractors. Internal server logs. Copies of altered authorizations.”
“Enough to clear me?”
“I think so.”
Nathan looked at her.
“You carried this around inside a stuffed rabbit?”
“I have triplets. Nobody willingly touches their stuffed animals.”
“Good point.”
Their eyes held.
For one second the hospital disappeared.
Then Claire looked away.
Too much history stood between them.
Rebecca left to deliver copies to Nathan’s attorneys and federal investigators.
Hours later, preliminary forensic review confirmed what Claire claimed.
Nathan’s digital signature had been cloned.
Martin had orchestrated the fraud.
But another discovery emerged.
Someone had been helping him.
A board member.
David Mercer.
Nathan had known David for twelve years.
He had voted for Nathan’s suspension that morning.
Federal agents moved quickly.
David was arrested before dinner.
Martin remained missing.
Nathan’s name was not immediately cleared, but the investigation shifted dramatically.
That night, Claire and Nathan finally sat alone.
“You should hate me,” Claire said.
Nathan looked at her.
“I tried.”
She gave a sad smile.
“For five years?”
“First year mostly.”
“And after?”
“I worked.”
“That sounds like you.”
“I got very successful at avoiding being miserable.”
Claire looked down.
“I should have tried harder to find you.”
“Yes.”
She looked up, surprised by the answer.
Nathan continued.
“And I should have tried harder to find you.”
“I disappeared.”
“I let you.”
“You searched for months.”
“Then my pride decided being rejected was less painful than asking why.”
Claire’s eyes filled.
Nathan moved closer.
“We both lost five years.”
“I took yours from you.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“Other people manipulated us. We made mistakes afterward. I’m not going to rewrite what happened just so I can have someone simple to blame.”
Claire cried quietly.
Nathan reached for her hand.
“Do you regret them?”
She looked toward their daughters.
“Never.”
“Neither do I.”
Claire smiled.
Then her expression changed.
“There’s something you need to understand.”
“What?”
“The girls don’t need a billionaire.”
Nathan waited.
“They need their dad.”
He nodded.
“I’m trying to figure out who that is.”
“You’ll make mistakes.”
“I already bought Sophie seven stuffed rabbits online.”
Claire stared.
“Nathan.”
“She looked sad.”
“She owns thirty-two.”
“I canceled six.”
Claire laughed.
Nathan smiled.
Then his phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number.
He opened it.
A photograph appeared.
Taken through the hospital window.
Claire and the girls.
Seconds earlier.
Below it:
You found your family. Now decide what it’s worth.
May you like
Nathan’s smile vanished.
Martin was still watching.
