Chapter 11 - THE FILE BENEATH THE HOSPITALSaint Catherine Hospital was nearly empty after midnight.
Graham entered through the basement with Daniel and Sloane.
They had obtained a temporary warrant.
The archive room was three floors below the main building.
Steel doors.
Paper records.
No cameras.
Daniel used a flashlight.
"The original birth records are stored by year."
"Find 2021."
Graham's daughter had been born in 2021.
They reached the shelf.
Nothing.
"She's missing."
Daniel checked again.
Then another shelf.
Nothing.
Graham stared.
"Someone removed it."
Sloane noticed a box hidden behind the bottom shelf.
She pulled it out.
Inside was a single file.
MAISIE ELIZABETH GRANT.
Graham opened it.
There was the original birth certificate.
Mother:
CLAIRE ELIZABETH GRANT.
Father:
GRAHAM ALEXANDER GRANT.
Everything was normal.
Until the last page.
A handwritten note.
TRANSFERRED TO PRIVATE ARCHIVE.
Graham's pulse quickened.
"Why?"
Daniel pointed at the signature.
Evelyn Hart.
The file had been moved six months before Claire's death.
Graham flipped through the medical notes.
A blood sample.
DNA verification.
An attached laboratory form.
He read the results.
PATERNITY CONFIRMED.
MATERNAL IDENTITY CONFIRMED.
Claire was Maisie's mother.
Graham exhaled.
Then another document fell from the file.
It was not a medical record.
It was a letter.
From Claire.
To Graham.
He opened it.
"If you are reading this, then I failed to keep Maisie safe."
Graham's hands shook.
"I need you to know something. Your mother is alive."
He read faster.
"She has spent years building a system around our family. She wants the trust, but not because of the money."
Graham stared.
"She wants access to the original asset."
Daniel looked at him.
"What asset?"
Graham continued.
"Years ago, before Maisie was born, your father transferred ownership of a private research company into a family trust."
Graham's eyes widened.
His father had built Grant Technologies.
The company was worth billions.
"Your mother was removed as trustee after your father's death."
Claire's letter continued.
"But she never stopped trying to regain control."
Sloane whispered:
"That's what this is about."
Graham nodded.
The eighteen million in Maisie's personal trust was only the small piece.
The real prize was control over Grant Technologies.
And Maisie's trust had a voting right.
If Eleanor controlled Maisie, she could control the shares attached to that trust.
Graham read the next paragraph.
"Eleanor cannot access the voting shares while you remain Maisie's legal guardian."
He stopped.
That's why they needed to remove him.
Claire had known.
"She needs you discredited."
"With the behavioral report."
"Yes."
Graham turned the page.
"She also needs you to marry Sloane."
Sloane stepped back.
"Why?"
Graham read aloud.
"Because Sloane is connected to the Mercer family."
Sloane went pale.
Claire had discovered the connection.
But the next line was worse.
"Do not hate Sloane until you hear what happened to her brother."
Graham looked up.
"What brother?"
Sloane closed her eyes.
"My brother is dead."
Daniel stared.
"How?"
Sloane's voice shook.
"He worked for Marcus."
"What happened?"
"He tried to leave."
"And?"
"He vanished."
Graham looked at the letter again.
Claire had written:
"His death was not accidental."
Sloane began crying.
"I knew it."
Then the lights shut off.
A heavy door slammed.
Daniel grabbed his flashlight.
"Someone is here."
Footsteps echoed through the archive.
Slow.
Approaching.
Then the intercom clicked on.
Eleanor's voice filled the room.
"You were always like your father, Graham."
Graham shouted:
"Where is my daughter?"
"Safe."
"Let her go."
"You still don't understand."
"I understand enough."
"Do you?"
Her voice became colder.
"Your father did not build Grant Technologies alone."
Graham frowned.
"What does that matter?"
"Your family stole it."
Daniel looked toward him.
Eleanor continued.
"The company was never supposed to belong to Graham."
Graham's stomach tightened.
"Then who?"
"Me."
Silence.
"You were given everything."
"Because Dad chose me."
"He chose survival."
Graham's voice hardened.
"You killed Claire."
A pause.
Then Eleanor answered:
"No."
Graham froze.
"I didn't kill Claire."
"Then who did?"
Silence.
"Ask your fiancée."
Graham slowly turned toward Sloane.
Sloane's face went white.
"I didn't..."
Eleanor's voice returned.
"Ask her what she put in Claire's medicine."
The line went dead.
Sloane began shaking.
Graham stepped back.
"Sloane."
"I didn't kill Claire."
"You knew her."
"Yes."
"You had access to the house."
"Yes."
"You were there the night she died."
Sloane covered her face.
"I was."
Graham stared.
"Then tell me what happened."
Sloane lowered her hands.
"I came to warn her."
"About what?"
"Marcus."
"Then?"
"I saw Claire take her medicine."
"Then?"
Sloane started crying.
"I left."
"And Claire died."
"I didn't know."
Graham stared at her.
Sloane whispered:
"But when I came back the next morning..."
She stopped.
May you like
"What?"
"The medicine bottle was gone."
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