Chapter 5 - MY BROTHER'S SECOND LIFE
Jonathan Hayes walked into my office laughing.
He stopped when he saw Marcus.
Then he saw the screen.
His smile disappeared.
“What is this?”
I played the recording.
His voice filled the room.
“Make sure she never gets the chance to talk.”
Jonathan didn't speak.
I stood.
“Tell me I misunderstood.”
“You did.”
“Then explain.”
He loosened his tie.
“The recording is edited.”
“Marcus?”
Marcus shook his head.
“It isn't.”
Jonathan looked toward the door.
Security closed it.
My brother stared at me.
“You're holding me prisoner now?”
“You threatened my wife.”
“No.”
“Then who were you talking about?”
He rubbed his forehead.
“Grace had found the shell companies.”
“I know.”
“She thought we were stealing from you.”
“Were you?”
“No.”
I laughed.
“Eighty million dollars moved through companies I didn't authorize.”
Jonathan looked exhausted.
“The money wasn't stolen.”
“Where did it go?”
“Protection.”
I stared.
“For what?”
He looked at Marcus.
Then back at me.
“You really don't know.”
“What?”
“Dad.”
The room went silent.
Our father had died twelve years earlier.
A respected businessman.
The man who taught me how to negotiate, how to win, how to never show weakness.
“What about him?”
Jonathan opened my bar cabinet and poured whiskey.
“Before he died, Dad confessed something.”
“To you?”
“Yes.”
“Not me.”
“You were his golden son.”
The bitterness was old.
“He didn't want you involved.”
“In what?”
Jonathan drank.
“Twenty-six years ago, Hayes Construction built the Riverside Plaza.”
I knew it.
One of our earliest properties.
“There was an accident before opening.”
“Three workers died.”
“Officially.”
My chest tightened.
“How many?”
“Eight.”
Silence.
Jonathan continued.
“Dad bribed inspectors and altered records. Five undocumented workers disappeared from every report.”
I felt sick.
“The shell accounts?”
“Families.”
“What?”
“I've been paying them anonymously.”
I stared.
“For five years?”
“Since Dad told me.”
“What does Vanessa have to do with it?”
“She discovered the payments while preparing annual reports.”
“And Grace?”
“She discovered Vanessa knew.”
My hands tightened.
“Then why did you tell Vanessa to silence Grace?”
Jonathan's face hardened.
“I said make sure she didn't talk to the press until we could explain.”
“That's not what the recording sounds like.”
“Because Grace cut it.”
I froze.
“You think Grace manipulated the recording?”
“No. I think someone edited the copy she found.”
Marcus leaned forward.
“Who?”
Jonathan looked directly at me.
“Vanessa.”
My mind raced.
“She knew about the pregnancy?”
His expression changed.
“What pregnancy?”
I knew immediately.
He hadn't known.
I told him.
The miscarriage.
The medication.
The altered vitamins.
Jonathan went white.
“Richard.”
“What?”
“Vanessa asked me something three months ago.”
“What?”
“She asked what would happen to your shares if Grace had a child.”
Cold moved through me.
“What did you tell her?”
“That the trust changes.”
It did.
I had created the trust years earlier.
If Grace and I had a biological child, thirty-one percent of Hayes Holdings would eventually move into an irrevocable family trust.
My personal voting control would decrease.
And more importantly, certain executive options would become worthless.
Including Vanessa's.
“How much?”
Jonathan swallowed.
“Her compensation package could lose nearly forty million dollars.”
I closed my eyes.
Forty million.
Then Marcus's phone rang.
He listened.
His face changed.
“What?”
He ended the call.
“Vanessa didn't go home.”
“Where is she?”
“Airport.”
My stomach dropped.
“Stop her.”
Marcus shook his head.
“Too late.”
She had boarded a private charter ninety minutes earlier.
Destination:
Maine.
May you like
Grace hadn't disappeared from us.
Vanessa was hunting her.
