Chapter 8 - THE NOTEBOOK
Nathaniel had negotiated billion-dollar deals without raising his pulse.
A gun pointed toward three children reduced his world to one command.
Keep them alive.
“Everybody back,” he said.
Agent Reyes shouted from behind a vehicle.
“Nathaniel, move away from him.”
Conrad lifted the gun.
“Not you. Everyone.”
Nathaniel raised both hands.
“Do what he says.”
Grace whispered, “Nathaniel.”
He did not look at her.
“Go back.”
“No.”
“Grace.”
“I’m not leaving those kids.”
Conrad laughed.
“That is why you’re such a problem.”
His eyes moved toward her.
Grace went still.
“You should have taken the money.”
“You should have learned what no means.”
Conrad’s smile disappeared.
Nathaniel stepped sideways, blocking his view of Grace.
Conrad noticed.
“Oh.”
His expression changed.
“So that’s what this is.”
Nathaniel’s voice was flat.
“What?”
“The cook.”
“Leave her out of it.”
“Interesting.”
Conrad glanced upward at the window.
“Mr. Ashford finally discovered people.”
Nathaniel felt anger rise.
He forced it down.
“You have the notebook. Leave.”
Conrad shook his head.
“Not enough.”
“What do you want?”
“A vehicle.”
“You have one.”
“Mine is burning.”
“You caused that?”
“One of your heroic security men shot the engine.”
Nathaniel slowly moved closer.
“You’re not getting out of the city.”
“Maybe.”
Conrad pointed the gun toward him.
“But you’re going to help me try.”
Nathaniel stopped.
“What else?”
“Ten million wired.”
Grace stared.
Nathaniel almost laughed.
“Ten?”
“You can afford it.”
“That isn’t the issue.”
“What is?”
“You kidnapped a woman, burned a building, threatened children, and now your exit strategy is asking me for money?”
Conrad’s jaw tightened.
Nathaniel knew he was pushing too far.
Grace knew too.
“Nathaniel,” she warned.
He changed tactics.
“You want money? Fine.”
Conrad studied him.
“You’re bluffing.”
“I’m a billionaire. Money is the easiest part of this conversation.”
For once, Nathaniel hated how true that sounded.
“What account?”
“I’ll give it to you when the car arrives.”
Conrad glanced around.
“No tricks.”
“No tricks.”
Nathaniel caught Reyes’s eye.
She understood.
Time.
He needed time.
Upstairs, Lucy disappeared from the window.
Nathaniel hoped that meant someone was moving the children.
Conrad looked at the notebook.
“You know what this proves?”
Nathaniel nodded.
“That you stole from me.”
Conrad laughed.
“Still about you.”
“No.”
Nathaniel’s expression hardened.
“That’s the difference between us.”
Conrad stared.
“You think feeding some children fixes what you are?”
“No.”
“Your signature is on the project.”
“I know.”
“Your company profited from every family we pushed out.”
“I know.”
“You didn’t ask.”
“I know.”
Nathaniel’s voice became quieter with each answer.
Conrad almost looked disappointed.
He wanted defensiveness.
Nathaniel gave him none.
“I was negligent,” Nathaniel said. “You were criminal.”
Conrad’s mouth tightened.
“You built the machine.”
“And I’m going to dismantle every part of it that allowed you to do this.”
Conrad raised the gun.
“You won’t have a company left.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t.”
Grace stared at Nathaniel.
He meant it.
That realization moved across her face.
Conrad saw it too.
For one second, rage overtook control.
“You arrogant—”
A crash came from inside.
Conrad turned.
Nathaniel moved.
He charged.
The gun fired.
Grace screamed.
Nathaniel hit Conrad at the waist.
Both men crashed onto wet pavement.
The notebook slid away.
Another gunshot exploded.
Agents rushed.
Grace grabbed the notebook.
Conrad struck Nathaniel across the head with the weapon.
Nathaniel fell.
Conrad lifted the gun.
Then Lucy’s voice screamed from above.
“Leave him alone!”
Conrad glanced upward.
That half-second saved Nathaniel’s life.
Agent Reyes fired.
Conrad dropped.
Silence.
Then chaos.
Agents surrounded him.
Grace fell beside Nathaniel.
“Are you hit?”
He blinked.
“I don’t know.”
“That is not an acceptable answer.”
She ran her hands across his coat.
No blood.
The first shot had struck a wall.
The second hit pavement.
Nathaniel sat up.
“I’m fine.”
Grace slapped his shoulder.
He stared.
“Did you just hit me?”
“Yes!”
“You’re surprisingly violent for a cook.”
“You tackled a man with a gun!”
“He was distracted.”
“He was armed!”
“I noticed.”
Her eyes filled.
Nathaniel stopped joking.
“I’m okay.”
Grace gripped the front of his coat.
“You could have died.”
He looked at her.
“Yes.”
Something passed between them.
Then paramedics arrived.
Conrad survived.
The bullet struck his shoulder.
Within hours, the blue notebook became the centerpiece of a widening federal investigation.
Rosa had copied transactions by hand because she feared digital records could disappear.
She documented payments to Conrad.
Kickbacks to Phillip Grant.
Fake vendor companies.
Political consulting fees.
And monthly transfers to an account controlled by Catherine Ashford.
Catherine was arrested that evening in Baltimore.
She had been preparing to leave the country.
The scandal exploded the following morning.
ASHFORD EXECUTIVES LINKED TO TENANT DISPLACEMENT SCHEME.
BILLIONAIRE’S AUNT ARRESTED.
MISSING MOTHER FOUND AFTER ALLEGED ABDUCTION.
News helicopters circled Mercer Street.
Reporters gathered outside the estate.
Nathaniel’s board demanded an emergency meeting.
His attorneys told him to remain silent.
He ignored them.
At noon, he walked to the estate gates.
Grace followed.
“What are you doing?”
“Talking.”
“To reporters?”
“Yes.”
“Your lawyers will kill you.”
“They can wait in line.”
Nathaniel faced the cameras.
Questions erupted.
“Mr. Ashford, did you know?”
“Will you resign?”
“Did Ashford Urban illegally force tenants from their homes?”
“Was your aunt acting on your behalf?”
Nathaniel raised his hand.
The crowd quieted.
He could have used the statement his lawyers drafted.
Ashford Urban Development takes these allegations seriously.
We are cooperating fully.
He had memorized it.
He said something else.
“My company failed people.”
Reporters went silent.
Nathaniel continued.
“I did not order the acts currently under investigation. But my name was on the buildings. My signature was on the project. And systems I was responsible for overseeing allowed people to be treated as obstacles instead of human beings.”
Grace watched from behind him.
Nathaniel looked directly into the cameras.
“That responsibility belongs to me.”
His public-relations director nearly fainted.
“The Mercer redevelopment is canceled.”
Questions erupted again.
Nathaniel continued.
“Ashford Urban will transfer ownership of 417 Mercer and the five neighboring residential buildings into a nonprofit community housing trust.”
Grace’s mouth fell open.
He had not told her.
“Every current resident will have the right to remain.”
Reporters shouted.
Nathaniel raised his voice.
“All buildings will be repaired at company expense.”
Another explosion of questions.
“And a fifty-million-dollar fund will be established to review and compensate every tenant improperly displaced by Ashford-affiliated projects during the last five years.”
Grace stared.
Nathaniel turned slightly and saw her.
For once, there was no anger in her expression.
Only shock.
A reporter shouted, “Are you doing this because of Grace Bennett?”
Nathaniel froze.
Grace’s eyes widened.
Another reporter yelled, “Is she your girlfriend?”
Nathaniel almost laughed.
Grace looked ready to disappear.
He faced the cameras again.
“No.”
Grace relaxed.
Then Nathaniel added, “Grace Bennett is the person who made me look at what I should have been seeing all along.”
She stared at him.
“She deserves credit for that.”
The cameras flashed.
Nathaniel stepped away.
Grace followed him toward the house.
“You could have warned me.”
“About which part?”
“Any part.”
He smiled.
“You said I needed orders.”
“I said you needed some.”
“You also told me stopping Friday wasn’t enough.”
Grace slowed.
Nathaniel looked back.
“So I’m trying to figure out Monday.”
For the first time since he had followed her into the rain, Grace Bennett smiled at him without reservation.
It lasted only a moment.
Then Maya came running from the house.
“Mr. Ashford!”
Nathaniel turned.
Her face was pale.
“What happened?”
“It’s Mom.”
Grace rushed forward.
“Rosa?”
Maya nodded.
“She collapsed.”
May you like
The smile vanished.
And the next battle began.
