Chapter 6 - THE MAN ETHAN CALLED A BROTHER
Grant Mercer entered Ethan’s office like a man arriving for lunch.
Silver-haired.
Perfect suit.
Warm smile.
He had the calm confidence of someone who had spent decades believing no door would ever close in his face.
“Ethan.”
His eyes moved to Norah.
The smile vanished for half a second.
That was enough.
“You know me,” Norah said.
Grant recovered instantly.
“I know of you.”
“No. You recognized me.”
Ethan closed the office door.
“Sit down, Grant.”
“I have a meeting.”
“Cancel it.”
Grant laughed.
“Since when do you interrogate your CFO in front of restaurant employees?”
Norah flinched.
Ethan didn’t.
“Since my restaurant employee discovered records my CFO apparently hoped would stay buried.”
Grant looked at Ethan differently now.
“You should be careful.”
“That sounds like advice.”
“It is.”
“Good. Here’s mine. Don’t lie to me.”
For several seconds, the men stared at each other.
Seventeen years of friendship seemed to stand between them.
Weddings.
Business victories.
Funerals.
Grant had held Sophie at her baptism.
He had sat beside Ethan when Evelyn’s coffin was lowered into the ground.
Finally Grant sighed.
“Connor handled outside vendors. Evelyn misunderstood what she saw.”
“She recorded a message naming both of you.”
That landed.
Grant’s face went pale.
Just slightly.
But Norah saw it.
He stood.
“I’m done with this conversation.”
Ethan stepped aside.
“Leave.”
Grant looked surprised.
“You’re suspending me effective immediately.”
“On what basis?”
“Because I own the company.”
Grant’s expression hardened.
“And that’s exactly why everyone hates you.”
He walked out.
The door slammed behind him.
Norah exhaled.
“You okay?”
Ethan looked at her.
“No.”
It was the first time she had heard him answer that question honestly.
Later that evening, Sophie stayed at the office while Ethan dealt with lawyers and investigators.
Norah found her under a conference table drawing.
“What are you making?”
Sophie pushed the paper toward her.
It showed three stick figures.
A little girl.
A tall man.
A woman with yellow hair.
Norah smiled.
“Is that your mom?”
Sophie nodded.
Then she added another woman beside the little girl.
Brown hair.
Green dress.
Norah.
“You don’t have to put me in your family picture.”
“I want to.”
The words struck somewhere soft.
Sophie kept drawing.
Then, without looking up, she said, “Uncle Grant made Mommy cry.”
Norah’s heart stopped.
“When?”
“The night before she died.”
Norah sat down on the carpet.
“What happened?”
“I was little.”
Sophie frowned, concentrating.
“I woke up because they were yelling.”
“Your mom and Grant?”
Sophie shook her head.
“There were two men.”
Norah’s pulse quickened.
“Who was the other one?”
Sophie slowly drew another figure.
Then she wrote a name beneath it in a child’s careful handwriting.
CONNOR.
Norah stared.
Sophie added one final detail.
“Mommy told them she had already made copies.”
Norah whispered, “Copies of what?”
Sophie looked toward her father’s office.
May you like
Then back at Norah.
“Mommy hid them in something Daddy never opens.”
