Chapter 8 - FORTY-SIX FLOORS ABOVE THE CITY
"No."
Arthur's answer came before Natalie could speak.
Ruiz didn't disagree.
"You're not going upstairs."
Grant had barricaded himself inside Whitmore Tower's executive archive.
Police surrounded the building.
Employees had been evacuated.
Charles Benton, Arthur's seventy-six-year-old attorney and friend of forty years, remained inside.
Grant refused to release him.
"He wants Natalie," Ruiz said.
Arthur slammed his hand against the conference table.
"He doesn't get Natalie."
Natalie looked at the live security feed.
Grant stood behind a glass wall on the forty-sixth floor.
A gun in one hand.
Benton seated nearby.
"He'll kill him."
Arthur looked at her.
"You don't know that."
"You think Grant killed his brother and Evelyn."
"Which is exactly why you are not going anywhere near him."
Natalie turned toward Ruiz.
"Can I talk to him over the phone?"
Ruiz considered.
"Possibly."
Arthur started to object.
Natalie held up a hand.
"Nobody is sending me upstairs."
Arthur reluctantly sat.
Police connected the call.
Grant answered.
"Natalie."
His voice sounded almost calm.
"You wanted me. I'm here."
"Not here enough."
"What do you want?"
"Come upstairs."
"No."
Grant laughed.
"Then Benton dies."
Arthur leaned toward the microphone.
"Grant."
Silence.
Then Grant spoke.
"Arthur."
"What did Charles do to you?"
"Nothing."
"Then let him leave."
"After Natalie comes upstairs."
Natalie looked at Ruiz.
She shook her head.
Natalie continued talking.
"Why did you watch me for twenty-five years?"
Grant went silent.
"Why didn't you kill me?"
Arthur's face tightened at the question.
Grant's answer came quietly.
"Because Caroline kept her word."
Natalie's blood chilled.
"What word?"
"She stayed away."
"She was scared."
"She was smart."
"You threatened a baby."
"You were leverage."
Arthur looked furious.
Natalie forced herself to remain calm.
"Did you kill Evelyn?"
Grant didn't answer.
"Did you kill your brother?"
Still nothing.
Then Grant chuckled.
"You're much more like her than I expected."
"Like who?"
"Evelyn."
Arthur's eyes filled.
Grant continued.
"She kept asking questions too."
Natalie stared at the phone.
"And that's why you killed her?"
Grant's voice hardened.
"I didn't say that."
"You didn't need to."
Ruiz motioned for Natalie to keep him talking.
"Why did Evelyn have to die?"
"Because she had no sense of proportion."
"What does that mean?"
"She was going to destroy everything."
"For stealing?"
Grant snapped, "It wasn't stealing."
Arthur leaned forward.
"Then what was it?"
Grant ignored him.
Natalie said, "Tell me."
Grant exhaled.
"The foundation was sitting on hundreds of millions while businesses were collapsing. I moved capital."
"You stole money."
"I invested it."
"In companies you controlled."
Silence.
Natalie knew she'd hit something.
"You needed Evelyn quiet."
"She threatened Daniel too."
"But Daniel helped her."
Grant's breathing changed.
"Daniel was weak."
There it was.
Not grief.
Contempt.
Natalie continued.
"So you killed your brother."
Arthur whispered, "Jesus."
Grant shouted, "He betrayed me!"
The room went silent.
Grant realized what he'd said.
Natalie didn't let him recover.
"And Evelyn?"
"You don't know anything."
"She trusted Caroline."
"Caroline ruined everything."
"By keeping me alive?"
Grant laughed bitterly.
"Do you understand what happened after Evelyn died? Arthur searched for you for years. Private investigators. Newspaper notices. Police. He nearly uncovered everything."
Natalie looked at Arthur.
"You were afraid he'd find me."
"Yes."
"So you threatened Caroline."
"I gave her a choice."
"A choice between silence and murdering a child isn't a choice."
Grant didn't answer.
Natalie continued.
"Why now?"
"Because Arthur was changing the trust."
"Before he met me."
"Exactly."
Arthur frowned.
Grant said, "Benton convinced him to audit the companies."
Arthur looked toward the security feed.
Benton.
His old friend.
Grant continued.
"If that audit finished, everything would come out."
"So you burned the archive."
"That wasn't supposed to happen like that."
Natalie looked at Ruiz.
Confession.
Maybe not complete, but enough.
"Where is the original evidence?"
Grant laughed.
"You think I'm stupid?"
"I think you're cornered."
His voice changed.
"You sound exactly like Evelyn."
Natalie swallowed.
"Good."
Silence.
Then Grant said, "Come upstairs and I'll tell you where she really died."
Arthur stood.
"No."
Natalie stared at the speaker.
"What?"
"The lake wasn't where Evelyn died."
Arthur froze.
Grant continued.
"Her body was moved."
Natalie's stomach turned.
"Where did she die?"
"Come upstairs."
Ruiz muted the call.
"No."
Natalie looked at her.
"He may know where evidence is."
"We have enough."
"Not for Evelyn."
Arthur took Natalie's hands.
"Listen to me."
His voice trembled.
"I spent twenty-five years wanting answers."
Natalie looked at him.
"I will spend the rest of my life without them before I let you walk into a room with that man."
She saw fear in his face.
Not fear of losing money.
Not fear of scandal.
Fear of losing her immediately after finding her.
Natalie squeezed his hands.
"I'm not going upstairs."
Arthur closed his eyes in relief.
Police continued negotiating.
Forty minutes passed.
Grant became increasingly unstable.
Then a fire alarm activated on the forty-sixth floor.
Thomas looked sharply at the screen.
"Smoke."
Arthur's face drained.
Grant had started another fire.
This time deliberately.
Police tactical officers moved.
On the security feed, smoke began filling the archive.
Benton coughed violently.
Grant dragged him toward the window.
Ruiz shouted into the phone.
"Grant! Let Benton out!"
Grant screamed something inaudible.
Then the camera feed went black.
Arthur whispered, "Charles."
Thomas listened to his radio.
"Tactical team entering."
Gunshots.
Three.
Natalie jumped.
Arthur gripped her hand.
Radio static filled the room.
Then:
"Hostage secured."
Arthur exhaled.
"Suspect?"
A pause.
"Suspect moving toward roof access."
Thomas ran for the elevator.
Ruiz followed.
Natalie and Arthur remained below.
Minutes crawled.
Then Thomas called.
Grant had reached the rooftop.
He stood against the edge.
Gun in hand.
Police surrounded him.
Natalie watched through a helicopter feed.
Grant looked tiny against the city skyline.
Then her phone rang.
Grant.
Ruiz had his phone routed somehow.
Arthur shook his head.
Natalie answered.
"Grant."
"I didn't mean for any of this."
She closed her eyes.
"Then put the gun down."
"Arthur was supposed to leave me the companies."
Arthur leaned closer.
"I would've given you anything you genuinely needed."
Grant laughed.
"That's the problem."
"What?"
"You always thought money was kindness."
Arthur flinched.
Grant continued.
"You gave everyone money. Hospitals. Libraries. Scholarships."
His voice shook.
"But Daniel got your respect."
Arthur whispered, "He was my son-in-law."
"He got Evelyn."
"This was about jealousy?"
"No!"
Grant sounded unhinged now.
"He was supposed to need me."
Natalie understood.
Grant had spent his life believing love was a limited resource.
Every person Arthur loved became competition.
Daniel.
Evelyn.
Emily.
Now Natalie.
"Grant."
"What?"
"You've spent twenty-five years trying to make sure Arthur had nobody."
Silence.
"Look at him now."
Arthur stared at her.
Natalie continued.
"You failed."
Grant began breathing heavily.
"You think you're his family?"
"I don't have to think."
"You're Caroline's daughter."
"Yes."
Grant seemed surprised.
Natalie said it again.
"I am Caroline's daughter. And Evelyn's daughter. Both can be true."
Arthur's eyes filled.
"And I'm Arthur's granddaughter."
Grant whispered, "Not if you're dead."
Arthur shouted.
Grant raised the gun.
Police officers moved.
Natalie screamed, "Grant!"
A shot cracked through the phone.
Then another.
Arthur grabbed the edge of the table.
The helicopter camera shook.
Grant disappeared from view.
Natalie's blood turned cold.
Seconds later Thomas's voice came through Ruiz's radio.
"Suspect down."
Arthur closed his eyes.
"Dead?"
"No."
Thomas sounded breathless.
"Shoulder wound. Officers have him."
Natalie collapsed into a chair.
Arthur wrapped his arms around her.
It was over.
Or so they thought.
Ten minutes later Ruiz returned.
Her expression was grim.
"Benton is alive."
Arthur exhaled.
"And Grant?"
"Hospital."
Natalie looked at her.
"Then what's wrong?"
Ruiz held a fireproof document pouch.
"Benton pulled this from the archive before the fire spread."
Arthur recognized it.
"My estate file."
Ruiz nodded.
"Grant wasn't trying to destroy only financial records."
She opened the pouch.
Inside was Arthur's original will.
Attached was an amendment.
Arthur frowned.
"I've never seen that."
Benton had supposedly signed as witness.
The amendment stated that if Arthur's biological granddaughter was ever located, she would receive nothing.
Every dollar intended for family heirs would pass instead to Grant Mercer.
Natalie's eyes widened.
Arthur looked furious.
"That's forged."
Ruiz nodded.
"Probably."
Then she placed another document on the table.
A life-insurance policy.
Insured individual:
EMILY JANE MERCER.
Policy value:
$25,000,000.
Beneficiary:
GRANT MERCER.
Natalie went still.
Issue date:
Six months earlier.
Long before she met Arthur.
Someone had taken out a twenty-five-million-dollar policy on Natalie under the identity Emily Mercer.
Arthur whispered, "How?"
Ruiz looked at her.
"We don't know yet."
Natalie's stomach dropped.
The surveillance hadn't merely been about keeping her away from Arthur.
May you like
Grant had been preparing for something.
And according to the policy, Natalie was worth far more to him dead than alive.
