Chapter 5 - Grant's SecretThe lights returned.
Grant was standing in front of me.
Blood covered his shirt.
Not mine.
His.
He held a gun.
Every agent raised their weapons.
“Drop it,” Elias ordered.
Grant didn't move.
“Grant,” I whispered.
He looked at me.
“I'm sorry.”
He dropped the gun.
It hit the floor.
Two agents rushed him.
Elias stepped forward.
“What happened?”
Grant looked at me.
“I told you I never wanted you dead.”
I didn't understand.
“You abused me.”
“I know.”
“You terrified me.”
“I know.”
“You broke me.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“I know.”
“Then don't tell me you're protecting me.”
“I was.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You call that protection?”
“No.”
He lowered his head.
“I called it keeping you alive.”
Elias stared at him.
“Explain.”
Grant looked at the underground room.
“Six years ago, my father told me Maria had access to an account worth billions.”
“I believed him.”
“He said I was supposed to marry her, gain access, and then make the marriage look unstable enough that nobody would question her death.”
Elias moved closer.
“So you followed orders.”
“Yes.”
“Then why is she still alive?”
Grant looked at me.
“Because I couldn't do it.”
My throat tightened.
“At first, I thought I could.”
He paused.
“But the longer I stayed with her, the more I realized what my family actually was.”
He looked at Helena.
“I tried to leave.”
Helena's face hardened.
“They threatened me.”
“With what?”
“My sister.”
I stared.
“You have a sister?”
Grant nodded.
“She died eight years ago.”
“Then why…”
“She didn't die.”
I froze.
Grant stepped closer.
“My family told everyone she overdosed.”
“But?”
“She escaped.”
Elias stared at him.
“Where is she?”
“I don't know.”
Grant swallowed.
“They used her disappearance to control me.”
He looked at me.
“Every time I tried to protect Maria, something happened.”
“The brake failure.”
“The gas leak.”
“The medication.”
“I intercepted what I could.”
“Then why did you hurt me?”
Grant closed his eyes.
“Because they were watching us.”
I didn't understand.
“They had cameras everywhere.”
He pointed toward the ceiling.
“Every room.”
My stomach twisted.
“I knew.”
“What?”
“The bathroom.”
Grant nodded.
“They were watching when I hit you.”
I stared at him.
“Then why did you let it happen?”
He looked destroyed.
“Because if I didn't, Helena would have killed you herself.”
Silence.
I wanted to hate him.
Part of me still did.
But another part was beginning to see the terrible machinery around us.
Grant leaned closer.
“I knew tonight was different.”
“Why?”
“Because you stopped crying.”
I remembered.
The moment I had smiled.
“You knew about the signal.”
“Yes.”
My eyes widened.
“How?”
“I helped Elias install it.”
I turned toward my brother.
He nodded.
“Grant came to me two years ago.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because we weren't sure he could be trusted.”
Grant laughed.
“You still aren't.”
Elias didn't deny it.
Then an agent shouted:
“We found something!”
Everyone turned.
One of the servers had started recording.
A video appeared.
A woman sat in a dark room.
Blonde.
Claire.
She looked directly into the camera.
“My name is Claire Madison.”
Grant's face went white.
“If you're watching this, I'm dead.”
The recording continued.
“I was told the Whitaker family was running an illegal financial network.”
She paused.
“That wasn't true.”
Elias stepped closer.
“What?”
Claire continued.
“The network is much larger.”
She looked frightened.
“The Whitakers are only one branch.”
My skin prickled.
“There are other families.”
“Other companies.”
“Other governments.”
“And someone is coordinating all of them.”
Elias whispered:
“Who?”
Claire looked into the camera.
Then said:
“The organization calls itself The Meridian Circle.”
Grant stepped back.
“No.”
Claire continued.
“They don't kill people because they know secrets.”
“They kill people because they are no longer useful.”
My heart pounded.
Then Claire said something that made Elias go pale.
“Your brother knows about them.”
I stared at Elias.
Claire's voice continued.
“But he hasn't told Maria the truth.”
The screen suddenly glitched.
Then one final image appeared.
It was an old photograph.
My father.
Conrad.
And three other men.
One of them was Elias's superior.
My brother's boss.
The man who had signed his orders for years.
Elias looked at the screen.
Then whispered:
“They found us.”
A phone began ringing.
Everyone turned.
It was coming from Grant's pocket.
He looked at it.
The screen showed one word.
MOTHER.
Grant answered.
A woman's voice came through.
Not Helena.
Another woman.
She said:
“Tell Maria her biological mother is still alive.”
Grant's face went white.
The voice continued.
“And she wants her daughter back.”
The call ended.
I looked at Elias.
“Where is my mother?”
He didn't answer.
Grant did.
“She's in the Whitaker estate.”
“What?”
May you like
He looked toward the ceiling.
“She's been here the entire time.”
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