Chapter 7 - The Man Behind the Petition.
Grant did not threaten them with force.
He threatened them with paperwork, reputation, and time.
He said the voice recorder was an unauthenticated copy and the financial statements could be explained as authorized expenses.
He reminded Julian that Leo was already in Bianca's home.
"Every hour you chase me is another hour she becomes his stable caregiver," Grant said.
Sophia quietly activated the recording function on her phone.
Julian asked why Bianca was afraid.
Grant smiled and said fear was the most reliable signature in business.
He admitted that Bianca had discovered the transfers too late.
By then, her own approvals appeared on several documents.
Grant had promised to protect her if she helped remove Julian from control.
"You turned my sister into your shield," Julian said.
"She chose the shield because she preferred it to accountability." Grant stepped closer and demanded Elena's recorder.
Sophia told him copies had already been sent to the court.
It was a bluff, but it made him pause.
The investigator knocked from outside, and Grant unlocked the door rather than create a scene.
He left with the confidence of a man who believed truth moved more slowly than influence.
The phone captured most of the exchange.
Unfortunately, Grant had never directly confessed to altering the formula or stealing the files.
At Bianca's townhouse, Leo refused his next feeding.
The court supervisor called Dr.
Hart, who insisted that Sophia's documented routine be followed.
Bianca did everything except use Elena's blanket, which she had left at the mansion.
Leo continued to turn away.
The supervisor ordered the blanket delivered.
Sophia carried it to the townhouse but was forbidden from entering the nursery.
From the hall, she heard Leo's strained cries and Bianca's impatient voice.
"He has to learn that she is not coming back." Sophia's restraint broke.
"He is a newborn, not a witness you can pressure." The supervisor opened the door and asked Sophia to demonstrate the routine.
Within minutes, Leo settled and drank.
Bianca watched with open resentment.
"You enjoy making me look incapable." "This is not about either of us," Sophia replied.
"That is the difference between us." The supervisor added the successful feeding to her report.
Bianca followed Sophia downstairs and quietly offered her two hundred thousand dollars to leave the state.
Sophia asked why a supposedly unqualified nanny was worth that much money.
Bianca's face tightened.
"Because Julian listens to you." "Maybe he listens because I tell him the truth." Sophia refused the offer and walked away.
Outside, her phone displayed a new message from an unknown sender.
It contained a photograph of Nora entering her mother's apartment.
The caption read, "Witnesses can change their minds twice." Sophia forwarded it to the investigator.
Then another message arrived.
It was a live image from inside Leo's nursery at Bianca's house.
May you like
Someone was still watching every bottle.
THE NANNY WHO GAVE HIM HOPE
