Chapter 6 - THE MAN WHO BUILT THE COMPANY WITH ME
Detective Ortiz refused to let me go alone.
I refused to stay behind.
We compromised by lying to Daniel.
I texted him exactly what he wanted to hear.
I have the drive. I'm coming alone.
In reality, the original flash drive remained with police.
What I carried was a duplicate loaded with enough copied files to look convincing.
Ortiz placed a transmitter beneath my shirt.
A tactical team followed at a distance.
“Do not improvise,” she told me.
“Daniel knows me.”
“So?”
“He'll know if I'm reading from a script.”
“Then don't read from one.”
She stepped closer.
“But understand something, Mr. Sloane. Your goal is not to win. Your goal is to keep him talking until we locate the baby.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
She studied me.
“Men like you are accustomed to solving problems by taking control.”
I looked toward the hospital room where Claire sat holding Noah while Lily slept beside her.
“You think I feel in control?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Claire made me promise something before I left.
“You come back.”
“I will.”
“Don't say it like a billionaire making a guarantee.”
Despite everything, I smiled.
“How should I say it?”
“Like my husband.”
I kissed her.
“I'll do everything I can to come back.”
“That I believe.”
Then she pulled me closer.
“Grace first.”
“Always.”
The abandoned construction site stood near a stretch of industrial land south of the city.
Sloane Infrastructure had planned to develop it eighteen years earlier.
We couldn't secure financing.
The project collapsed.
Daniel and I joked for years that the property was where our first empire died.
Now he had chosen it for another reason.
Memory.
I parked where instructed.
A single work light illuminated the unfinished concrete structure.
“Daniel!”
My voice echoed.
No response.
I walked farther inside.
The transmitter felt enormous beneath my shirt.
Then Marcus Dean stepped from behind a column.
My security chief looked exhausted.
His jacket was gone.
A handgun hung at his side.
“Where's Grace?”
“Drive?”
I held it up.
“Baby first.”
“You don't make the rules.”
“I pay your salary.”
Marcus almost smiled.
“Not anymore.”
“You protected my family for nine years.”
“I protected your assets.”
“My daughter isn't an asset.”
“To Daniel, everyone is.”
I stared at him.
“How much?”
“What?”
“How much did he pay you?”
Marcus shrugged.
“Enough.”
“There isn't enough money.”
“For you.”
His expression hardened.
“You don't know what normal people think is enough.”
“Don't turn this into class resentment. You held my daughter.”
“And she's alive.”
“Where?”
A baby cried somewhere above us.
Every muscle in my body tightened.
“Grace.”
Marcus glanced upward.
That was enough.
Second floor.
East side.
I prayed Ortiz's team understood.
Then Daniel appeared at the top of the concrete stairs.
He held Grace.
My daughter looked impossibly small against his chest.
“Mason.”
“Give her to me.”
“Always impatient.”
“You poisoned Claire.”
“No.”
The answer surprised me.
“You expect me to believe you?”
“I expect you to listen.”
“You sent Vanessa the message.”
“Yes.”
“You forged my signatures.”
“Yes.”
“You stole forty million dollars.”
He laughed.
“Closer to sixty.”
My stomach turned.
“And you're proud?”
“I'm honest.”
“You tried to transfer my children.”
“That wasn't me.”
“Then who?”
Daniel looked down at Grace.
“This became messy.”
“Because Claire found you.”
“Claire is smarter than you.”
I almost smiled despite the hatred burning inside me.
“At least we agree on something.”
Daniel continued.
“She noticed patterns your army of accountants missed.”
“She trusted you.”
“That was her mistake.”
“No. Mine.”
For the first time, something changed in Daniel's face.
“Don't do that.”
“Do what?”
“Turn this into one of your speeches.”
“This isn't a board meeting.”
“Everything is a board meeting with you.”
His bitterness surprised me.
Daniel had never complained about standing beside me.
Not once.
“What happened to you?”
He laughed.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The great Mason Sloane trying to understand the disappointing employee.”
“You weren't my employee.”
“Exactly.”
His voice echoed through the building.
“I built that company.”
“I know.”
“No. You don't.”
“I have said it publicly for twenty years.”
“And whose name is on the building?”
I looked at him.
There it was.
Not greed alone.
Resentment.
Old and deep.
“You wanted the company.”
“I wanted my half.”
“You owned twenty-two percent.”
“Because investors wanted your face.”
“I offered you equal voting control.”
“After you already controlled the board.”
“You agreed.”
“I was twenty-three!”
“So was I!”
Grace started crying louder.
Daniel looked irritated.
My anger became ice.
“Don't look at my daughter like that.”
He adjusted her against his chest.
“I haven't hurt her.”
“You kidnapped her.”
“I needed leverage.”
“She is five hours old.”
“And already worth billions.”
“Not to me.”
Daniel smiled.
“That's the lie rich men tell when their money is threatened.”
“I'll give you every share I own.”
Silence.
Marcus looked at Daniel.
Daniel looked at me.
I continued.
“Every property. Every account. Every company.”
“You think I believe you?”
“You know me.”
“Exactly.”
“Then you know I'm serious.”
Daniel stepped down one stair.
“All of it?”
“All of it.”
“For Grace?”
“For any one of my children.”
“What about Claire?”
“For Claire too.”
He studied me.
Something close to envy appeared in his eyes.
“You really love her.”
“Yes.”
“She was always the problem.”
My blood ran cold.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel glanced toward Marcus.
Then back at me.
“She changed you.”
“Good.”
“You used to be hungry.”
“I still am.”
“No. You became comfortable.”
“I became a husband.”
“You became weak.”
I looked at Grace.
“Give me my daughter.”
“Drive first.”
I lifted it.
“Put Grace on the stairs.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
“Then you don't get this.”
His expression changed.
The FBI tactical team—or local SWAT, I didn't know which—had to be near.
I needed more time.
“Did you poison Claire?”
Daniel stared at me.
“I told you no.”
“Who did?”
He smiled.
“You still don't see it.”
“See what?”
“Claire wasn't poisoned because she found the money.”
My heart began pounding.
“Then why?”
“Because she found what the money purchased.”
“What did it purchase?”
Daniel's smile disappeared.
“A company.”
“What company?”
“One nobody was supposed to know existed.”
“What does it do?”
He remained silent.
Then I understood something.
This was bigger than stolen funds.
“What did you buy?”
Daniel looked toward Marcus again.
That glance was different.
Nervous.
Marcus noticed.
“What?”
Daniel ignored him.
“Give me the drive.”
“No.”
“Mason.”
“What company?”
Grace began crying.
I took one step closer.
Marcus drew his weapon.
“Stop.”
I did.
“Daniel,” I said, “you've known me twenty years.”
“Yes.”
“You know I'm not giving you anything until Grace is safe.”
His jaw tightened.
Then a voice came from the darkness behind him.
“He's right.”
Daniel spun.
Vanessa stepped into the light.
My heart stopped.
“Vanessa?”
She held a gun.
Not at me.
At Daniel.
“Put the baby down.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You idiot.”
“Put Grace down.”
“You weren't supposed to come here.”
“I wasn't supposed to do a lot of things.”
Marcus raised his weapon toward Vanessa.
She immediately aimed at him.
“Don't.”
Everything became still.
Daniel laughed softly.
“You think Mason is going to forgive you?”
Vanessa's eyes filled with tears.
“No.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because Claire did.”
“What?”
“Forgive me.”
I stared at her.
Vanessa looked at me.
“Claire knew I helped move money.”
“She knew?”
“I confessed to her three days ago.”
Daniel's face changed.
“You what?”
“I told her everything.”
“You stupid—”
“She told me to go to the police.”
“Why didn't you?”
“Because you threatened my sister.”
Daniel smiled coldly.
Vanessa's hands shook.
“But Claire told me something else.”
“What?”
“She said Mason would still protect me if I helped expose you.”
I almost couldn't speak.
Even while uncovering theft, even while pregnant, Claire had been trying to save Vanessa.
That was my wife.
Daniel's eyes moved toward the flash drive.
Then toward Marcus.
“Take it.”
Marcus stepped toward me.
Vanessa shouted.
“Don't!”
The gunshot cracked through the building.
I dropped.
Grace screamed.
Someone shouted.
More shots exploded from outside.
Police flooded the structure.
Marcus fell behind a concrete column.
Daniel turned and ran upstairs with Grace.
I chased him.
“Mason!” Ortiz shouted.
I ignored her.
Daniel reached the second floor.
There was nowhere to go except the unfinished western edge.
He stopped near the drop.
Wind moved through the open structure.
Grace cried against his chest.
“Daniel.”
I slowed.
“Don't.”
He looked behind him.
Twenty feet of empty air.
“Mason, stay back.”
“Give me Grace.”
“Stay back!”
His hand shook.
He wasn't holding a gun.
That mattered.
“Daniel.”
I spoke quietly.
“You don't want to hurt her.”
“You don't know what I want.”
“Yes, I do.”
He laughed.
“You always thought you knew me.”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“That was my mistake.”
Police footsteps thundered behind me.
Daniel looked trapped.
“Give her to me.”
For the first time, he looked terrified.
“If they arrest me, I'm finished.”
“Yes.”
“Twenty years.”
“Yes.”
“My whole life.”
“You made your choices.”
He looked down at Grace.
Then slowly stepped toward me.
I extended my arms.
“That's it.”
He took another step.
Grace was less than three feet away.
Then Daniel whispered, “I'm sorry.”
I reached for her.
Suddenly, a red dot appeared on Daniel's chest.
Laser sight.
Not from behind me.
From the building across the road.
Daniel looked down.
His face went white.
“Mason…”
A shot shattered the concrete wall beside us.
Daniel dropped to the floor.
I grabbed Grace.
Police dragged us backward.
Another shot cracked through the darkness.
Someone outside was shooting at Daniel.
Trying to silence him.
Detective Ortiz pulled me behind a concrete barrier.
“Stay down!”
I held Grace against my chest.
Daniel crawled toward cover.
Blood ran from a cut on his face.
His eyes met mine.
“The company,” he gasped.
“What company?”
“The one Claire found.”
“What is it?”
He grabbed my sleeve.
“Ask Richard.”
“My uncle?”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
Then he whispered a name I had never heard before.
“Blackridge.”
Another bullet struck the concrete.
And Daniel said the words that changed the entire investigation.
“Blackridge didn't poison Claire.”
May you like
He looked toward Grace.
“They were trying to poison all three babies.”
