Chapter 13 - A Brother's Bargain
Adrian requested one last meeting with Julian at the estate office. Caroline advised Julian to keep the conversation brief and to have a witness present. Julian agreed, and Grace sat near the door with a notebook. The investigator had been informed of the meeting, though no one promised that Adrian would confess.
Adrian arrived without his usual smile. He looked tired, his expensive suit hanging loosely at the shoulders.
"I can repay the money," he said. "Every dollar. I can resign from the foundation and leave Seattle. We can tell the board it was a financial dispute."
"You tampered with a safety device at a public event," Julian replied. "My son was standing beside it."
"I thought he would be upstairs. Peter was supposed to move him."
Grace's pen stopped moving.
Julian leaned forward. "You knew the tower could fall. You knew Noah was there. You went ahead anyway."
Adrian's jaw worked. "I needed a distraction. The folder would have exposed me. Creditors were closing in, and I thought I could replace the money."
"And if Noah had died?"
Adrian looked at the window. He did not answer.
Julian felt something inside him settle into place. He had spent years believing that loyalty meant giving family one more chance. Now he understood that loyalty without boundaries could become permission.
"You don't get to buy your way out of this," he said. "The police and the court will decide what happens next."
Adrian's face hardened. "You think you're different from me? You built an empire and let me run the parts you didn't want to understand. You signed the budgets. You ignored the numbers until it was convenient to act shocked."
The accusation hurt because Julian had neglected oversight and would have to answer for it. But he had not removed the pin or put a child in danger.
"I failed to ask questions," Julian said. "You chose to make sure nobody could ask them. Those are not the same thing."
Adrian rose and turned toward the door. At the threshold, he looked back at Grace.
"You heard nothing," he said.
May you like
Grace met his eyes. "I wrote down every word."
Outside the office, two investigators were waiting. Adrian stopped walking. For the first time that night, he seemed to understand that the story was no longer his to control.
