Chapter 2
Alex ordered every handbag, briefcase, service cart, and kitchen office secured.
Grant laughed from the floor.
“You're searching your mother’s birthday guests now?”
Alex looked down at him.
“It’s Rosie's birthday.”
Grant’s smile disappeared.
That correction mattered.
For years Evelyn had slowly turned family events into her own court.
Her house.
Her table.
Her rules.
Even when the cake had Rosie’s name on it.
Alex finally noticed.
Maya sat beside Rosie while a private doctor examined both of them.
The redness on Rosie’s hands was consistent with prolonged exposure to hot water and commercial cleaning solution.
Not permanent injury.
Enough to hurt.
Enough that the physician’s jaw tightened while documenting it.
Maya’s palms showed superficial thermal burns.
Alex watched the bandages being replaced.
His breathing remained controlled.
Only his right hand betrayed him.
The fingers kept closing.
Opening.
Closing again.
Maya noticed.
“Alex.”
He looked at her.
“Don't make this about what you do to Grant.”
Her voice shook.
“Make it about what they did.”
His hand opened.
Stayed open.
That sentence changed the rest of the night.
Security found Maya’s handbag in an upstairs guest closet.
The copied invoices were gone.
But someone had missed one thing.
A photograph on Maya’s phone.
One vendor invoice.
NORTHSTAR EVENT SUPPLY.
$71,800.
For linens, serving equipment, and premium glassware supposedly delivered to Evelyn’s house three months earlier.
The house manager shook her head.
“We never received any of that.”
Grant shrugged.
“Then the vendor made a mistake.”
Alex looked at his cousin.
“Seventy-one thousand dollars?”
Grant’s eyes did not move.
“People make expensive mistakes.”
Then Alex’s finance director arrived.
He recognized Northstar immediately.
The company had billed Vance-controlled properties almost nine hundred thousand dollars in eighteen months.
Owner:
Peter Lang.
Unknown to Alex.
Known to Grant.
The finance director placed a corporate registration photo on the table.
Grant’s face tightened.
Peter Lang had served as Grant’s private driver for seven years.
Alex stared at him.
“You didn't know?”
Grant’s voice became harder.
“I don't ask what every former employee does after leaving me.”
Evelyn finally spoke.
“I approved Northstar.”
Everyone turned.
Alex’s eyes settled on her.
“Why?”
“Because Grant recommended them.”
The answer came without hesitation.
Loyalty before verification.
Again.
Then the house manager entered carrying something found behind the linen cupboard.
A small black burner phone.
Maya stared.
“That’s not mine.”
Grant’s eyes moved toward it.
Just once.
Alex noticed.
The phone contained only six messages.
The newest had been sent two hours before Alex returned.
KEEP MAYA IN THE KITCHEN UNTIL ALEX IS SEATED.
The reply:
AND THE CHILD?
Another message followed.
WITH HER.
Alex slowly lifted his eyes toward Grant.
May you like
Rosie’s suffering had not merely been tolerated.
Someone had scheduled it around his arrival.
