Chapter 4 - What Grant Carried
Vanessa was standing in the doorway when Daniel turned from the open safe.
For several seconds neither spoke.
Then her eyes dropped to the empty shelf.
“What are you looking for?”
Daniel closed the safe.
“My bank token.”
Vanessa blinked.
“What bank token?”
“The one Grant carried out of this house this morning.”
Her expression stayed blank one second too long.
Daniel noticed.
Rachel and Thomas remained in the hallway behind him.
Vanessa saw them and immediately stiffened.
“Can we not do this with the staff watching?”
Daniel laughed without humor.
“The staff just saved my daughter and stopped me from having my dog killed.”
“Your dog.”
“Yes.”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“So now we’re back to attacking me.”
“Where is the token?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Grant enter my office this morning?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you meet him at the service entrance?”
“He brought paperwork.”
“Why didn’t he come through the front door?”
“He was in a hurry.”
“Why did Thomas see him carrying something from my safe?”
“I have no idea what Thomas thinks he saw.”
Thomas’s face reddened.
Daniel held up a hand before he could respond.
“Did you give Grant my safe code?”
Vanessa stared at him.
“No.”
“Does Grant have it?”
“How would I know?”
“Did you delete the pool video?”
“No.”
“Did Grant?”
“No.”
“You answered that quickly.”
Vanessa’s nostrils flared.
“This is insane.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Lily told the doctor you pushed her.”
Vanessa looked past him toward Rachel.
“She’s been putting things in Lily’s head.”
Rachel took a step forward.
Daniel stopped her.
“You’re blaming Rachel?”
“I’m saying a three-year-old can be influenced.”
“She said it before Rachel said anything.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I was holding her.”
Vanessa looked trapped for the first time.
Then she changed tactics.
Her shoulders lowered.
Her voice softened.
“Daniel.”
He hated how familiar the tone was.
“I made a mistake by laughing.”
“A mistake.”
“I panicked.”
“You laughed.”
“It was shock.”
“Rachel heard you.”
“Rachel hates me.”
“You shoved Lily.”
“I reached for her.”
“You told me she slipped.”
“She moved when I reached.”
Daniel said nothing.
Vanessa continued faster.
“She was holding that stupid box and standing too close to the edge. I tried to take it. She stepped back.”
“That isn’t what she said.”
“She is three.”
“So you keep reminding me.”
Vanessa looked toward the bedroom hallway.
“I can’t do this.”
“You can.”
“No. Not with an audience.”
Daniel turned to Rachel and Thomas.
“Give us the room.”
Rachel hesitated.
He nodded.
They left.
When the door closed, Vanessa came toward him.
“You are going to destroy our family over nineteen seconds.”
Daniel stared at her.
“Our family?”
“Yes.”
“Our daughter almost drowned.”
“She didn’t.”
The words escaped too fast.
Vanessa knew it.
Daniel’s face changed.
“She didn’t?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“You pushed a three-year-old into a pool, but it’s okay because the dog got there?”
“I said that’s not what I meant.”
Daniel walked away before he did something reckless.
At the window he could see Milo in the yard with Rachel now, moving slowly beside Lily. The child had been changed into pajamas and wrapped in a cardigan despite the warm evening.
Milo stayed close enough that his shoulder brushed her every few steps.
Daniel’s throat tightened.
Vanessa followed his gaze.
“That dog could have hurt her.”
“He saved her.”
“He had his mouth on her.”
“Her dress.”
“You didn’t know that when you came outside.”
“No.”
“And you made a bad decision because you were scared.”
Daniel turned.
“Yes.”
“Then maybe understand that other people make bad decisions when they’re scared.”
The admission hung between them.
Vanessa realized it immediately.
Daniel stepped closer.
“What were you scared of?”
“I didn’t say—”
“You just did.”
“I was speaking generally.”
“No. You weren’t.”
Vanessa backed away.
Daniel’s phone rang.
Julia Chen.
His personal attorney.
He answered without taking his eyes off Vanessa.
“Julia.”
“I’m with Alan Pryce on a conference line,” she said. “He sent me the system report.”
“And?”
“The deletion event is real. The missing clip was deliberately removed.”
Vanessa’s face tightened.
Daniel put the call on speaker.
Julia continued.
“Alan also checked your cloud-retention agreement.”
Daniel looked at the monitor.
“Is there a backup?”
“Possibly.”
Vanessa went completely still.
Julia explained that the home system mirrored encrypted event fragments to the security company’s servers for thirty days. Customers could not directly retrieve deleted material, but the company could preserve server-side backups if properly requested.
“Can we get it tonight?” Daniel asked.
“No. We need to preserve it first, and because there’s now a potential criminal investigation involving a child, I want law enforcement handling the request.”
“So the footage may still exist.”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked at Vanessa.
She looked away.
Julia continued.
“There’s another issue.”
“What?”
“Your banking token.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“I just discovered it missing.”
“When did you last personally use it?”
“Thursday.”
“Any reason Grant Holloway would need it?”
“No.”
“Then call the bank fraud department now. Not tomorrow.”
Daniel moved toward his desk.
Vanessa said, “Daniel, don’t.”
He stopped.
Julia heard her.
“Is Vanessa there?”
“Yes.”
Julia’s tone changed.
“Daniel, I’m going to suggest you continue this call privately.”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“Of course.”
Daniel covered the phone.
“Go upstairs.”
“Stop ordering me around.”
“My daughter made an allegation against you. My security footage was deleted. My bank token is missing. You’re not staying in this office.”
“Our office.”
“No.”
Vanessa stared at him.
Then walked out.
This time she did slam the door.
Daniel called the bank.
The fraud representative verified his identity through a backup process.
The missing token was immediately disabled.
Then the representative asked a question.
“Mr. Mercer, did you initiate a wire request this afternoon?”
Daniel’s chair stopped moving.
“What wire request?”
“A transfer from Mercer Hospitality Holdings.”
“How much?”
Keyboard sounds clicked on the other end.
“Two million eight hundred thousand dollars.”
Daniel’s mouth went dry.
“To whom?”
“The destination account is held by an entity called Northstar Advisory Partners.”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“The transfer did not complete.”
“Why?”
“It required secondary approval from your chief operating officer.”
Daniel slowly closed his eyes.
Grant.
Julia spoke through the other phone.
“What time was the request initiated?”
The representative answered.
“Three thirteen p.m. Eastern.”
Daniel looked at the security deletion timestamp on the monitor.
3:13 p.m.
The wire request and the deletion had been initiated in the same minute.
Julia said, “Daniel, do not touch anything else on that computer.”
He barely heard her.
Because another realization had already arrived.
Someone had not returned to his property merely to erase what Vanessa had done by the pool.
At 3:13 p.m., while Lily approached Vanessa with a birthday gift, somebody had been inside Daniel’s office using his banking credentials.
And Daniel suddenly understood why Grant’s phone had appeared on the network.
May you like
Grant had not come back for Vanessa.
He had come back for the money.
