Chapter 19 - THE THIRD PERSON
The third person was not another killer.
It was Naomi.
Seven months before Arthur died, she had been Julian’s junior analyst, not yet his executive assistant.
Julian took her to the marina because Arthur had demanded financial records.
Naomi saw Marcus tampering with the boat.
She said nothing because Julian told her it was a maintenance issue.
After Arthur died, she understood.
That was why she began copying files.
That was why Julian promoted her.
Keep enemies close.
Keep witnesses closer.
Naomi testified before the grand jury.
Marcus eventually took a deal and admitted disabling Arthur’s safety system on Eleanor’s orders.
Julian admitted the financial fraud, forged documents, drugging Genevieve, and concealing evidence after Arthur’s death.
Eleanor denied everything until prosecutors played Marcus’s recording.
Then she stopped smiling.
Months passed.
Genevieve’s body recovered slowly.
Her left leg remained weaker than her right. She used a cane on good days and a chair on bad ones.
She stopped measuring progress by whether strangers thought she looked “normal.”
Nora learned to roll over.
Then sit.
Then laugh whenever Genevieve dropped something.
Sarah became godmother despite claiming she was “terrible with babies.”
One afternoon, Genevieve returned to Mercer Holdings for the first board meeting since the hospital.
Several directors stood when she entered.
She hated that.
“Sit down,” she said. “I’m not the national anthem.”
Nervous laughter broke the tension.
Genevieve took her father’s old seat.
The board voted to recover misappropriated funds and remove every Vale-controlled vendor.
Then Genevieve announced a new policy protecting employees who reported executive misconduct.
Afterward Sarah met her in the hallway.
“You know what tomorrow is?”
Genevieve nodded.
Sentencing.
Julian and Eleanor would both be there.
Sarah touched her arm.
“You don’t have to go.”
Genevieve looked down at the cane in her hand.
May you like
“Yes,” she said. “I do.”
Because there was one sentence she had waited months to say where they could not interrupt her.
