Chapter 9 - THE MAN BEHIND HER
Daniel wasn’t allowed inside, but Ramirez questioned him with a recorder running.
Grant gave them a name.
Evan Pierce.
According to Grant, Evan had designed the financial structure, arranged the fake consulting company, and brought Dr. Kline into the scheme.
Melissa had started with lies online.
Evan turned the lies into a machine.
“He told her she could build an empire,” Grant rasped. “He said sick kids make people generous.”
Grant looked ashamed.
“Money.”
Ramirez asked, “Why were you attacked?”
Grant swallowed painfully. “I told Evan I wanted out.”
“When?”
“After Lily started fighting back.”
Daniel stepped closer to the glass.
Grant saw him.
“She’s tougher than Melissa thinks,” he whispered.
Then he gave them another piece.
The Friday “final event” was supposed to be a livestream from a rented lake house outside the city.
Melissa planned to announce that Lily’s condition had suddenly worsened.
Donations would spike.
At the same time, Evan would trigger the board vote.
Daniel would be called away by a fake company emergency.
“What happened after that?” Ramirez asked.
Grant shut his eyes.
“I don’t know.”
“Your messages say he wouldn’t be around.”
“I swear, I didn’t know what Evan meant.”
Ramirez leaned in. “You knew enough to be scared.”
Grant began shaking.
Finally he whispered, “There was a car.”
Daniel’s stomach dropped.
“What car?”
“Evan said Daniel’s brakes needed servicing.”
Silence.
Daniel remembered his assistant telling him the company sedan had been taken to a private garage two days earlier.
For a software issue, he had been told.
He had planned to drive it Friday morning.
Maya immediately called the police garage unit.
Forty minutes later, an investigator confirmed tampering in the braking system.
Daniel sat down.
He could barely hear the room.
Then his phone rang.
Evan Pierce’s name appeared on the screen.
Daniel answered.
May you like
Evan sounded calm.
“Danny,” he said, as if they were still best friends. “We need to talk before you make this worse.”
