Grant’s face hardened.
He reached for the laptop.
I stepped between him and the pedestal.
For seventeen years, Michael had been the person who stood between me and every ordinary difficulty.
A broken furnace.
A cruel parent at the school where I taught.
The surgeon who explained my operation too quickly.
Now I was standing between his frightened younger self and the brother who still believed he could erase him.
Grant leaned close.
“Move.”
“No.”
Owen circled toward the blue folder.
I held it against my chest.
Grant lowered his voice.
“Sign the development offer.
We divide the proceeds fairly, and this ends today.”
“The property is mine.”
“It is worth nearly twelve million dollars because of what our family built.”
“The bank records say your family took money out of it.”
His jaw tightened.
“You have a daughter in college now, don’t you?”
The room seemed to contract around us.
“Sophie has nothing to do with this.”
“She will when the lawsuits begin.
Legal bills.
Depositions.
Reporters asking why her father hid assets from his wife.
We can make his name very ugly.”
Owen glanced at the laptop.
A tiny light near the camera was blinking.
He noticed it at the same moment I did.
“Grant,” he said quietly, “this is recording.”
Grant turned toward the screen.
Michael’s image had disappeared.
In its place was an active video connection.
Daniel Price sat at a desk, wearing headphones.
Beside him stood a uniformed sheriff’s deputy.
Daniel spoke through the laptop.
“Thank you, Grant.
That was extremely clear.”
Grant lunged for the power cord.
The laptop did not switch off.
It was running on its battery, and the encrypted session had already uploaded the recording.
Daniel continued.
“Deputies are at the front gate.
Naomi, step away from the library entrance.”
Grant looked toward the corridor.
For the first time, I saw the fear Michael had carried all those years move into his brother’s eyes.
Owen backed away immediately.
“This was Grant’s idea,” he said.
Grant turned on him.
“Shut up.”
“No.
You said she would sign.
You said Price wouldn’t be here.”
Philip appeared at the end of the corridor with both hands raised.
