Chapter 9 - Grant's Offer.
Adrian was halfway to the elevator when his phone rang.
Lydia's name appeared on the screen.
He answered instantly.
"Where are you?"
"I'm safe."
Her voice was low but controlled.
"I'm at a coffee shop on West Forty-Ninth."
Adrian stopped.
"Marcus's officer said you left with Grant."
"I did."
"Why?"
"Because he came to my building and said he had proof Vanessa had used my information."
Adrian closed his eyes.
"Lydia, I specifically asked you not to meet either of them."
"I know."
She did not sound defensive.
"And I should have listened."
"What happened?"
"He offered me money."
Adrian's expression went still.
"How much?"
"Two hundred thousand dollars."
Daniel, standing nearby, heard the number and turned sharply.
"For what?" Adrian asked.
"To say publicly that I misunderstood Vanessa."
Lydia continued before he could respond.
"He wanted me to say the bracelet was a misunderstanding, that the invoices were normal, and that I had entered your office because I was looking for money."
Adrian's hand tightened around the phone.
"Did you accept anything?"
"No."
"Did you sign anything?"
"No."
"Did he threaten you?"
"Not directly."
She paused.
"He said my mother would lose her apartment if I made this difficult."
Adrian's voice became dangerously calm.
"Stay where you are."
"Marcus is sending someone."
"I already called him."
Lydia surprised him.
"I sent him the messages Grant used to arrange the meeting."
Adrian exhaled.
"Good."
"There is something else."
"What?"
"Grant blamed Vanessa."
"Of course he did."
"No."
Lydia lowered her voice further.
"He said Vanessa started the whole thing, but then he said she doesn't know about the biggest account."
Adrian looked toward Priya.
"What biggest account?"
"He wouldn't explain."
"He just said, 'She thinks this is about gala money.'"
Adrian repeated the sentence for the room.
Priya immediately returned to her laptop.
"If Northstar is only a pass-through, there may be another layer."
Lydia continued.
"Then Grant got a call."
"He walked outside to answer it."
"That's when I left."
"Did you hear anything?"
"Only one sentence."
"He said, 'If Adrian opens the Mercer file, we're finished.'"
Priya stopped typing.
Daniel looked at Adrian.
"Mercer?"
Adrian knew the name.
Mercer Educational Properties was a company the foundation had used to purchase and renovate small buildings for scholarship training centers.
It was legitimate.
At least Adrian had always believed it was.
"Search every payment connected to Mercer," he told Priya.
For the next hour, the conference room became silent except for keyboards and phone calls.
Marcus confirmed Lydia was safely escorted to a secure location with her mother.
Then Priya found the first anomaly.
Mercer Educational Properties had sold a training center to the foundation four years earlier for 1.8 million dollars.
Two months before that sale, Mercer had purchased the same building for 1.1 million.
A profit was not unusual.
What was unusual was the seller before Mercer.
The property had belonged to a shell company linked to Hale Development.
Adrian frowned.
"Vanessa and I weren't even together four years ago."
Daniel looked uncomfortable.
"You knew her father."
Adrian remembered charity dinners, development meetings, and golf events from years before he dated Vanessa.
The Hale family had been in his professional circle for a decade.
Priya opened another transaction.
A second property showed the same pattern.
Then a third.
Each time, a Hale-linked company acquired a struggling property cheaply.
Mercer purchased it shortly afterward.
Then the foundation bought it at a significant markup.
Daniel stared at the screen.
"This predates Vanessa's involvement with the gala committee."
"Yes," Priya said.
"By years."
Adrian felt the betrayal expand beyond his engagement.
"Who approved Mercer as a vendor?"
Priya searched the archived board minutes.
The answer appeared.
Peter Sloan had prepared the recommendation.
Daniel had signed the approval.
But Daniel's signature on those older documents was unquestionably real.
Adrian looked at him.
Daniel did not avoid his gaze.
"I approved Mercer."
"Why?"
"Because your father recommended them."
The room went silent.
Adrian's father had died three years earlier.
He had also founded the education charity with Adrian's mother.
"My father knew the Hales?"
Daniel gave a slow nod.
"Better than you think."
Adrian stared at him.
"Then tell me everything."
Daniel looked toward the closed conference-room door.
"Not here."
"Why not?"
"Because if the Mercer file is what I think it is, this did not begin with Vanessa."
May you like
He met Adrian's eyes.
"It began with your father."
