Chapter 15 - The First LieGrant’s confession changed the order, not the guilt.
Robert created the first shell vendor eight years earlier.
Small invoices.
Easy money.
Grant discovered it.
Instead of reporting it, he joined.
Margaret learned later.
She justified it as “protecting family assets.”
Then the theft grew.
By the time William became suspicious, everyone had something to lose.
Grant admitted creating NB Strategic Solutions under Nathan’s identity.
“Why me?” Nathan asked.
Grant looked down.
“Because no one would question your name.”
Then Grant admitted helping Margaret with the fake paternity report.
He gave Eric the sample.
He drafted the guardianship strategy.
He prepared the forged will.
But he denied ordering the assault.
Harris believed that part was plausible.
Margaret had acted after Claire found the papers.
On impulse.
Rage.
Control slipping.
The prosecutors expanded financial charges.
Robert was arrested.
Susan accepted a plea.
Eric cooperated.
Grant negotiated.
Margaret refused.
She insisted she had saved the company from chaos.
Nathan visited her once through glass.
Not for closure.
For information.
She looked older.
“You chose her over me,” Margaret said.
Nathan stared.
“This was never a competition.”
“It became one when she turned you against your family.”
“No. You turned me against what you were doing.”
Margaret’s eyes hardened.
“You think Claire is innocent? She went through my room.”
“She found papers about taking her baby.”
“She had no right.”
Nathan almost laughed.
Then Margaret said something quieter.
“I knew you wouldn’t believe me if I only told you Claire was unstable.”
“So you forged a DNA test.”
“I gave you certainty.”
“No.”
Nathan leaned closer to the glass.
“You gave me a lie shaped like certainty.”
Margaret looked away.
He stood.
Before leaving, he said:
“You attacked my wife beside my daughter. Whatever happens next, do not call that love.”
Margaret did not answer.
When Nathan returned home, Claire was waiting with an envelope.
“What is it?”
She handed it to him.
A job offer.
Another city.
May you like
Claire whispered:
“I want to leave.”
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