Chapter 14 - The Shot
Nathan reached the warehouse before anyone could stop him.
Grace was on the concrete.
Blood stained her sleeve.
“Grace!”
She looked up. “I’m okay.”
The bullet had grazed her upper arm.
Her mother was safe behind an agent.
Charles lay face-down in handcuffs, shouting about lawyers and entrapment.
Caleb had been arrested near the docks.
Nathan knelt beside Grace.
“Can I touch you?”
Even now, he asked.
Grace nodded.
He pressed a clean cloth against her arm until the medic arrived.
At the hospital, Lily ran to Grace first.
Nathan expected that.
Then Lily turned and reached for his hand.
Not his arms.
Just one hand.
Nathan gave it to her.
They sat that way beside Grace’s bed.
Grace’s mother, Helen Bennett, told investigators what happened.
Charles had approached her four years ago with money and threats. When she refused to help convince Grace that Nathan had moved on, he threatened her mortgage and medical insurance.
Three months ago, Charles contacted her again.
“He said Grace had gone back to New York,” Helen whispered. “He said if I warned her, he would take Lily.”
Nathan looked away.
The next morning, federal agents searched Whitmore Holdings.
They seized servers, phones, and financial records.
Rebecca arrived at the hospital with one more discovery.
A payment ledger showed Martin Cole had paid Charles $250,000 four years ago.
The memo line read:
RELATIONSHIP RESOLUTION CONSULTING.
Nathan stared at the page.
May you like
His uncle had not ordered the crash.
But he had paid the man who made everything else possible.
