Chapter 10 - THE SAFE ROOM
Nathan pushed Grace and Lily into the upstairs safe room seconds before two masked men reached the landing.
He locked the steel door and turned.
One man swung a crowbar.
Nathan ducked, drove his shoulder into him, and sent both of them into the wall. Owen hit the second intruder from behind. The fight lasted less than a minute, but it sounded like the house was coming apart.
When police arrived, one intruder was unconscious. The other had escaped through the service hall.
Ramos pulled off the captured man’s mask.
Grace gasped.
She knew him.
“He was outside my apartment five years ago.”
Nathan looked at her.
“He worked for your father.”
The man’s name was Dean Mercer, former contract security for Cole Meridian.
Under questioning, Mercer refused to speak.
But police found a burner phone in his pocket.
One message had arrived six minutes before the break-in.
GET BENNETT. LEAVE THE CHILD.
Another message gave instructions for a private airfield outside Scottsdale.
Rebecca stared at the screen. “They don’t need Lily anymore.”
Grace whispered, “They need me.”
Nathan understood.
Charles’s archive was legally keyed to Grace. If she disappeared, the evidence could remain sealed indefinitely.
The next morning, they went to the trust company under police escort.
Grace presented her identification and Charles’s letter.
The vault officer entered several codes.
A screen lit up.
AUTHORIZED BENEFICIARY VERIFICATION REQUIRED.
Grace placed her thumb on the scanner.
ACCESS DENIED.
She tried again.
ACCESS DENIED.
The officer frowned. “Your biometric profile has been replaced.”
Nathan stared at him. “By who?”
The officer pulled the audit log.
The change had been authorized four days earlier.
By Nathan Cole.
Again, someone had used his credentials.
But this time the system recorded a security image of the person who approved it in person.
The officer opened the file.
Nathan expected Victoria.
May you like
Instead, a familiar face appeared on the screen.
His younger sister, Claire.
